Anyone have a Cat with Feline Hyperestesia Syndrome?

[carrie007]

Well Boo got two tests done today - one for Feline Leukemia Virus and the other for some liver disease. She is also now on medication. If the medication works, they said it is neurological and they will adjust the meds to the lowest possible dosage they can.

I have decide not to pursue an MRI at this point. i am going to wait until the results are back and also wait to see if the meds work.

they put her on Phenabarbitol ( sp?) one pill every twelve hours. So we'll see how she does.

the vet said that most cats are too smart to take the pills with cheese, but I tried it and Boo ate it. However, she may get wise to this.

Anyways I feel like I am doing everything possible and I feel much better.

 

[xocats]

Having a plan always helps.
Keep us posted.

 

[carrie007]

Okay Boo has only taken three pill of the Phemabarbitol so bar but only one twitch so far. I understand that we have to wait a month or two to see if this will continue to work...but so far it only one little twitching episode.

Anyone have experience with this drug and cats?

If so I would appreciate any information you have.

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by carrie007

Okay Boo has only taken three pill of the Phemabarbitol so bar but only one twitch so far. I understand that we have to wait a month or two to see if this will continue to work...but so far it only one little twitching episode.

I'm glad to hear it's having such an immediate effect!

 

[lucinda]

Years ago I rescued a feral cat with Hyperestasia due to allergies to fleas that caused her to have seizures. She also had central nervous system problems, and (can't remember what it is called) problems with the iris of her eye being attatched to the cornea with threads. I do not know how she managed to live out there in the wild in the blackberry bushes, but she did for a year even tho she was a mess.
Anyway, I found that if I religiously applied Advantage every 3 weeks she did not have problems with the Hyperestasia and lived a good life for 10 years.
I currently have another cat with central nervous system problems and hyperestesia just in the tip of her tail. Again, I find if I keep her Advantaged, the hyperestesia does not help her. Now, If I could only find something to help her temperment! She is a black Tortie. She is now about 12 years old and going strong. She had seizures that the vet thought were caused by the stress of her going in for her physical. He prescribed Phenobarb. but said to wait to see if she had any more. NOPE! She is fine.
Good luck with your Boo. I know she will do well

 

[carrie007]

Well I have put her on Nutro now and something interesting happened this weekend.

She was trying to tear the bag of Whiskies meatly selections open that was on a shelf and so my husband gave her some and the next day she was back to twitching and phantom eating of the floor. So we think that that food makes her worse. We are going to keep her on the Nutro and see how she is. From my understanding Nutro has far less perservative then the other food.

Anyone have any thoughts on if a food could cause this?

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by carrie007

Well I have put her on Nutro now and something interesting happened this weekend.

She was trying to tear the bag of Whiskies meatly selections open that was on a shelf and so my husband gave her some and the next day she was back to twitching and phantom eating of the floor. So we think that that food makes her worse. We are going to keep her on the Nutro and see how she is. From my understanding Nutro has far less perservative then the other food.

Anyone have any thoughts on if a food could cause this?

Yep! I've found that eliminating most grains from Jamie's diet has alleviated the problem. I completely avoid food that's sold in supermarkets, and anything containing large amounts of beet pulp or soy. Nutro is one of the foods he does very well on, though I haven't had any luck convincing him that he should eat Nutro wet food. Welcome to the "maybe I should try this one" club!

 

[carrie007]

I think the meds that they put Boo on are not working any longer. She is starting to twitch more and more.

We are trying different foods to see if they are causing the problem. She seemed to get worse on Whiskis. Maybe we're just kidding ourselves with the food!

I am going to take her back to the vet this week for a blood test and to let the vet know that her twitching has returned.

 

[jcat]

I'm sorry to hear that Boo has had a relapse. Based on my experience with Jamie, I still believe that food plays a role in some/many cases. Perhaps you should ask your vet if an all meat/fish diet would help? With the necessary taurine/vitamin supplements, of course. I'm not an advocate of raw feeding, due to Europe's problems with avian flu, and Jamie's refusal to eat raw, but cooked meat or fish might help. Can Boo live with the twitching? If it's not affecting her quality of life, perhaps it's just something you all have to accept and put up with?

 

[carrie007]

we went to a pet food store today and got some new stuff that they recommended. One is a frozen wet food that has no perservatives. The other is a dry food with very little perservatives. She loves the wet food. The dry food, is another story. But the store send we could bring it back if she did not like it and they would give us our money back.

They also said that Whiskis and Fancy Feast were the worst for perservatives and it could very well be the food.

So we've stopped all treats and are just going to keep her on this food and see what happens. I am hopeful that this will help.

Hopefully we'll see some improvements. If not at least we have tried some new foods. But I do know that when on Whiskis she is worse. So cross your fingers and hope this works.

I could care less about the cost of the food, as long as Boo gets better.

Thanks for your support.

 

[jcat]

Whiskas doesn't have the best reputation, to put it mildly, and Fancy Feast, while very palatable, is something that many vets seem suspicious of due to UTIs. I don't buy any cat food with preservatives.

 

[carrie007]

I took Boo to the vets last night for Blood Work to see the levels of the drugs in her system.

the vet believes that she is having a Partial Seizure because during these episodes of twitching, they are followed by Panthom Eating. basically she eats things off the floor that are not there.

So the vet has increased her meds because the meds were not working and we just have to go from there. She has tested for everything, done blood work and can't find anything wrong with her. We have changed her food to see if that was the problem, but so far no improvement.

So...I guess I am facing the fact that my cat has Seizures ( cause unknown). This is very frustrating for me, however Boo remains in good spirits, except when she has to take her meds, which is getting harder and harder to do. ( the vet is looking to see the meds come in a gel form)

The vet did say that the seizures could get worse because if it is a brain lession and it grows, it could cause them to become worse. However she did also say that she could live a full life,just having to take medication.

I wondered why of all people I would get a cat with seizures and my sister in law said perhaps because you'll take the best care of that cat and do everything you can for it.

I'm sad because I don't know what is going to happen to her.

 

[serenechristine]

hey Carrie I am new here & my poor Bubbles has just been diagnosed with this feline hyperesthesia syndrome" we are almost at the point of trying the seisure meds but first going to try elavil with a steroid, that is if he'll let me...thanks to all who share here for your posting your cat health issuses has not only helped me with great ideas to help me help him but I don't feel so all alone...a support group is just what i need as this is sooooooooo stressfull....I look forward to chit chatting with you ladies...hopefully i'll have some good news soon but for now my poor Bubbles needs your prayers and for this medication to start working as hes under the bed licking like a madman and won't let me near him......

 

[carrie007]

Hi,
Sorry to hear about your cat - FHS can become very severe - but my cat is doing well on the new meds she is on - she now only has occassional problem. We hope she will continue to do better. If you want anymore information I would be happy to answer any questions - you can now PM me as I have cleared my message box.

Thanks,
Carrie