I Need Serious Help - Unexplained Spasms

3 days ago my cat started sneezing. On the second day she started having spasms. She has been having 2 types of spasms:

1. Lasts for a split second and her head twitches to the left

2. Last for a second to 1.5 seconds, and her head and neck straighten out and stiffens, and pull up and back to the left, also her mouth opens slightly.

After these spasms she acts like nothing is wrong, and my not have another one for 10-15 mins or up to an hour.

Apart from these spasms, she is showing no signs of sickness or disease.

I took her to the vet this morning, and he told me that I have one of the healthiest looking cats he has seen. Obviously she didn't have a spasm while I was with the vet.

The vet didn't seem too concerned and just told me to watch and see what happens, that maybe she was bit by a spider...

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here has seen, heard or read about this sort of thing. If so, any help or insight you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

We thank you for your help

If you can see a feline specialist...

personal note my Kandie seems to have one sezure a year , vets cant find anything ..

Is it almost like a sneezing sound, but not.. One of my cats has reverse sneezes, it sounds scary, almost like hiccups in away..

She doesn't make any sounds when she does it, but it seems that yawning and sneezing trigger it...I'm completly at my wits end trying to figure out what's wrong.

Mort has these weird spasms that make her head twitch.... She has done this since she was a kitten. When I found her( well she found me) she had bumps on her head and her whiskers were fallen. I took her to the vet and the vet thought that whom ever owned her as a tiny kitty was abusive. It was weird because her whiskers grew out curly the first time they had started to grow again. The vet thought that she had head trama. She has twitched ever since then. She only does it once in awhile but, it's probably a everyday occurance...She is 17 now and going thru CRF. Her twitches never affected her health. I would ask the vet whats up.

She sounds like she might have had head trauma. I too, would try and find a feline specialist to see her for a full evaluation. If these spasms were not ongoing, I wouldn't worry, but with the frequency there is a concern.

poor sweet thing - I sure do hope you can find a cause to these spasms soon

My cat is doing the exact same thing. Started sneezing a few days ago and now this morning she has a twitch in her head. You explained it to a t.  I know this post is a decade old now, but did you ever find out what it was?  Was your cat okay in the end?  

I found out what was causing unexplained spams in Chaplin, my 9-month old foster kitten! Hope sharing his diagnosis may help others.

The initial poster described EXACTLY the symptoms Chaplin was having. Totally healthy, playful, normal appetite kitten who suddenly Friday night starting having twitching. It looks like tiny seizures but just of his head, sometimes with his head in a normal position, others longer with his head stretching up and back opening his mouth. I could distract him out of the twitching by playing with his favorite toy or offering him a treat. Saturday the spasms were getting more frequent, he was twitching for longer stretches, and he also started sneezing. 

I thought he had inhaled something he shouldn't have, or the other foster cat who occasionally tackled him in a not-friendly-way had maybe slammed him down too hard causing brain trauma. Or he had some terrible disease or cancer (thanks google).

Sunday morning I brought him to the first vet. The vet had examined him as thoroughly as she could without sedating him. Ran full bloodwork, virus test, urinalysis -- all totally clear and normal except for in the bloodwork, globulin was right at the high level of normal. She thought it was possibly either neurological, a nasal polyp, or a foreign body obstruction she couldn't see that would need a scope and surgery. All horrible! She referred to a neurologist saying they'd need to do an MRI -- $$$$. She said it wasn't critical or urgent as he was otherwise totally healthy. I made an appointment at another regular vet the next day for a 2nd opinion.

Sunday afternoon the sneezing got more frequent and then by Sunday evening turned into violent sneezing fits where he would rub his nose just on the left side frantically. His face was looking maybe swollen on one side, and his third eyelid on the left would cover his eye during the sneezing. At first, a toy or food would still distract him out of it, but by nightfall he was acting sick, refusing food (he is normally a voracious eater), and minimal interest in playing. He meowed a little unhappy or painful meow when I picked him up and didn't want to be touched or pet, also unusual. I almost took him to the ER vet Sunday night, but then he settled down, ate a tiny bit of dinner, and seemed a little better, though he was twitching pretty constantly.

Monday morning, the second vet sedated him to put a tube down his throat so she could thoroughly flush his nasal passages with saline, in case there was anything stuck that might could be flushed out, and also so she could probe around for a polyp or any other foreign matter blockage. Nothing. 

Then, a miracle -- thanks to the vet!

While he was sedated she noticed a tiny pinprick size dot of blood on his jawline. She shaved the area and... there it was! Two puncture wounds. A cat bite! Right on the facial nerve. The pain and infection was the cause of the spasms and sneezing!

Chaplin got a 2 week antiobiotic shot, and a 12-hour anti-inflammation and pain-relieving shot. The spasming stopped INSTANTLY! That afternoon and night he was loopy out of it, and I only saw two very tiny spasms, and one or two tiny sneezes.

The next day, he was totally better! As in racing around, up and down the cat tree, ravenous eating, purring happy snuggling normal foster kitten.

Can you take a video of these spasms happening on your phone, and show them to the vet?