Feline Hyperesthesia

My cat has hyperesthesia and was diagnosed in October of 2016. It has been challenging and stressful to say the least. I first had him on Amitriptyline for over 2 months, but it didn't do any good so weaned him off of that. Merle is now on Gabapentin at 25 mg every eight hours. He had a really good three days, but now he is going down hill again.  Seems he will have three good days and then he goes backwards. I started him on the Gabapentin December 11, 2016 but at a very low dose and saw no response so on 12/15/16 I raised his dose and then he had three good days beginning on 12/17 through 12/19/16. Now he has a bad day on 12/20/16. Is this how this FH goes like this? Merle does not have seizures. His symptoms are the biting of his legs really bad and the over grooming of himself. He also scratches a lot by his neck and face. This is so hard to see him go through this. I also have him on the Spirit Essences Skin Soother. I put that on him twice a day now. He has been on that since November 1st. It seems to have helped with the skin twitching of his back. I have not seen that now. I also have him on Cannabis pills, but I am going to have to stop them because I can't afford to keep getting those. Those cost me $50.00 a month with the shipping and I just can't afford them. I am not sure if they help or not. I also switched his food to Farmina dry cat food. It is supposed to be good for cats with hyperesthesia since the high protein and all natural. I feed the Boar and Apple. Is there anything else I can do? I was thinking of buying the Spirit Essences Obsession to add with the other, but just hate spending money if it isn't going to help.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  I hate FH!!!

There are several cats here on TCS with FHS.  Diet plays an important part in controlling this, according to many people.  While Farmina may be a "good" food, I just read the ingredients of the Boar and Apple, and there may be some ingredients that could be common allergens, which may or may not be exasperating the issue.  It's really hard to know for sure, but when you said he has been itching around his head and neck, that really raised a flag for me, because this is the area of their bodies that normally indicate a food allergy, whether or not they have FHS.  So....I would take a look at switching his food.  Here: have a look at this thread, it discusses not only food, but also meds:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/268824/feline-hyperthesia-sydrome-and-my-poor-cat

BTW, some common food allergens are fish, dairy and even chicken, all of which are in that Farmina. 

What country are you located in?  I know you can buy the cannabis for pets in certain cities within the U.S. and not have to pay for shipping, from Canna Pets, and it's $29.95.  I don't know how much their shipping is if you buy from their website, because I don't know where they would e shipping to.  I just know there are a couple of different places that sell cannabis for pets on-line.

I have switched Merle's food to the Farmina and it is not a food allergy that he has at all. My vet and I have already confirmed it is not a food allergy and he has FHS and the itching around the neck and face area is also a symptom of his FHS. So I have already switched him from the food he was on to this new food by Farmina and I am not going to switch him again since we do know for sure it is no a food allergy that Merle has. I appreciate any other feedback on FHS.  It seems when I took Merle off the Cannabis pills for the three days is when he had his bad day on that third day so I really believe the Cannabis pills and the Gabapentin are helping him quite a bit. He just has good days and bad days and the good are outweighing the bad right now. 

Sorry,  I wasn't intimating that he didn't have  FHS, I was saying that he might have a food allergy in ADDITION to the FHS. 

Hopefully you can find a different company to obtain the Cannabis from that is less expensive, since it seems to help. 

Hi There! My two year old Meakha Blu also has FHS. She is on gabapentin 50mg every 8 hours and it almost works 100% of the time. Im very interested in the cannabis pill you mentioned as I've read that cannabis helps with seizure disorders and that FHS may be a type of seizure disorder.  But I dont know if it's even available here in florida yet. I'm going to ask my vet about that, thank you! It is a very scary syndrome when you first see it in the flesh and unfortunately so little is really know about it. I can recommend asking your vet about increasing the gabapentin to 50mg every 8 hours. I'll say a prayer for your furry loved one as well! It's terrible knowing they have a disorder that may be causing them pain as well as  emotional distress

ifsogirl said:

 
Hi There! My two year old Meakha Blu also has FHS. She is on gabapentin 50mg every 8 hours and it almost works 100% of the time. Im very interested in the cannabis pill you mentioned as I've read that cannabis helps with seizure disorders and that FHS may be a type of seizure disorder.  But I dont know if it's even available here in florida yet. I'm going to ask my vet about that, thank you! It is a very scary syndrome when you first see it in the flesh and unfortunately so little is really know about it. I can recommend asking your vet about increasing the gabapentin to 50mg every 8 hours. I'll say a prayer for your furry loved one as well! It's terrible knowing they have a disorder that may be causing them pain as well as  emotional distress

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There is Canna Companion, and Canna-Pet.  Neither one says they DON:T ship to Florida, so I think you would be good to go.  Let us know if you try it and it works for your little one.  It's interesting to know that the Gabapentin works.  I've not actually heard of that working for FHS before.  Good to know.