Hi everyone

Hi to all
I live in Suffolk, England, with five darling kitties: Sunbeam (tortietabby girl), Cobweb (mackerel tabby girl), Princess (black and white girl), Kandy (white and black semi-longhair girl) and Red (ginger semi-longhair boy). All moggies, not posh cats, all named after racehorses and they make waking up in the morning a joy. Sunbeam is a pretty good show cat too - in England we have classes for pets at shows as well as pedigree breeds - and she has qualified for the big national show in November.

I wonder if any of you with all your experience of things feline have run across a problem that I have with Kandy. She is a year old and loves life and does all the things happy cats do - runs, jumps, plays, wrestles, climbs, bickers with her friends, sleeps on my bed - but she cannot bear being stroked along her back. She is ultra-sensitive to touch and it seems to hurt her to do so, although she rolls over and crawls through undergrowth without apparent pain.

Of course I've had her checked thoroughly by vets - ex-rays, blood tests, the lot - and they can find nothing physically wrong with her. They said there is a feline hyper-aesthesia syndrome and the only suggestion was that perhaps she'll grow out of it.

She is a happy, healthy little soul and the way she comes to me chirruping with her tail up, it seems as if she would dearly love to be cuddled. It's just when it happens she then remembers, hey, maybe this isn't such a good idea.

I'd be really interested to hear if anyone has experienced anything similar.

Selene

Hi Selene and welcome to the Cat Site.

You've certainly come to the right place with questions about your 5 beautiful furbabies.

I have a black kitty, Buttons, who reacts the same way as your Kandy except it's her belly. She'll even roll over like she's inviting a belly rub but 'woe for you' if you try it. I'll be interested in hearing the responses as to the reason. My other 2 kitties love having their bellies rubbed.

Anyway, WELCOME...

I am glad to meet you Selene.

Welcome to the cat site, Selene!

Selene; A hearty CatSite welcome to you and your "Fur Family"!


I wish I could help you with your kitty's sensitive spine. You say that you have had tests and x-rays, etc. so that rules out any type of displacia or calcium deposits and the like. Any type of infection or inflamation of the spinal chord, such as menengitis, should show up in a blood test or the presence of a low-grade, persistent fever. I am at a loss to know what it is but I will keep on it and get back to you.

Again, WELCOME !

Hello and welcome to The Cat Site! It's nice to meet you and all your feline friends!



Perhaps you might garner more information about Kandy's sensitivity by posting to the "Behavior" and/or "Health and Nutrition" forums? It's just a thought.



I look forward to reading more about you and your cats. Don't be a stranger!

:tounge2:

=^..^=

Hey Selene! A fellow Brit!! I'm in Leicester but I have no idea where you are in relation to me (cos honestly I SUCK at geography!) - Anyway I don't think its tooooooo far?!

I also have five babies, and I have noticed that one in particular has a tendancy to jump in the air (or at least stick his butt in my face) when I stroke him on the back, I don't think its what you're describing as I was told that cats have nerve endings at the base of their spine (or something like that!! God knows what I'm on about!) that is kind of ticklish to them and makes them stick their butt in the air, I don't think it is what you're describing but I thought I'd just mention it anyway......(I'll be going now... )

:laughing:

Welcome to The Cat Site!!!! It sounds like you have some very beautiful furbabies. I'm sorry that I can't really help you with you furbaby.. as I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to cats.. yet. (I plan on knowing all I can know as soon as possible!)


I hope you can figure out what it is and get a solution to it soon!


Best of luck to you!

Well, thanks to all for the welcome.

Right now I'm sitting up trying to stay awake to watch our Dean Macey at the world championship athletics at Edmonton - track and field to you across the pond, and lucky you over there because it's on during your day. Keeping me company at the moment are Sunbeam (in the basket on my desk), Red (in the basket on my filing cabonet) and Kandy (snacking at the bowls). Princess is out, presumably slaughtering the local murine population and Cobweb is upstairs on my bed.

Let me try to describe Sunbeam, with her beautiful coat of many colours. She is what we call tortie-tabby in the UK - I think in the States you call tortoiseshell cats calicos. There are two sorts of tortie-tabby; tortie cats with the black patches tabby, and tabby cats with the black stripes tortie.

Sunbeam is one of the latter. Her coat is a strikingly-ticked agouti base overlaid with a rich black-and-red tracery in the classic tabby pattern. Her tail is ringed in the sale red-and-black and when she curls it round the pattern matches her body exactly. Her pretty front paws have toes mottled with cream and black and between her ears on top of her head is a lozenge of rich orange. Her pale green eyes are wide and clear with a trusting and loving gaze, her nose is pale brick-red outlined in black, her ears are tufted like a lynx and her whiskers full and forward-curved.

She is a short-hair and a big, husky girl, but her coat is longer and plusher than usual with a texture of silk and a thick underlayer and a belly of bright apricot with black spots. And in addition to her beauty the cat gods have given her a gentle, generous, loving nature. She was born in a haybarn; her mum was small and black (dad unkown) and had a litter of five tortie-tabby girls. When I went to see them at a month old this little scrap with the orange spot was the first one out of the nest and across the bales, so she chose herself and I bless the day she did. She sits or sleeps on my desk during the day and on my bed at night and guards the house when I am out.

She does very well at cat shows in the non-pedigree classes, which are judged on temperament, presentation and condition. She has already qualified for the national championships in November, but she's going to another show before that in September to keep her friend Cobweb company.

That's a good idea about posting Kandy's problem on the health/behaviour fora.

But that's enough from me for the moment.

Selene
and the kitties

Selene, I just stumbled into your post. What your baby has is pretty common. There's a bit too much for me to post, but there is a book you can order that will give you some insight. I think you can even find it through this site under shopping and books. It is called the cat who cried for help. He has been studying and working with feline behavior for years. I bet you would love the book and would help to desensitize your baby.