Feline Hyperesthesia & Pooping Problem

[aaronalexander]

Our little girl "Muppet" (yes that's her name) was diagnosed with Feline Hyperesthesia just last week. Seems about a month ago something changed in one day: She had a huge bout of diarrhea and ever since that day, things have been different. For awhile there around 30-60min before a bowl movement she would start to act nutty. Constantly licking, running around, pupils full, almost a bit crazy (which we've read up on and understand now). Biggest problem we've had is for some reason the sensation/nerves that are aggravated when the bowl movement is coming on must do something to her as she won't always use the litterbox to poop. Sometimes she uses it for a moment, then dropping poop all around as she runs away (due to her nerves being aggravated) or sometimes she just poops where she is at the moment in the living room, bedroom, etc etc.

Fast forward to now and she's on Gabapentin for the past week. We've noticed a major difference in the 30-60min follow up to the bowl movement. The "craziness" we saw before has been dulled down a bit. She tends to just walk around meowing with a bit of the "Zoomies". The problem of pooping still happens. And lets be clear, urinating is 100% perfect. She always uses the box. But the pooping we either catch her about to go in the living room and toss her by the litterbox and she goes or find some droppings here and there. Tomorrow we up her dosage from .23ml twice a day to .47ml twice a day. Because she had some problems with diarrhea in the last month she's been on a Probeobiotic powder once a day, we've added pumpkin (she likes this) and changed up her food to Kangroo (WHICH SHE LOVES!). I guess what I'm asking of anyone, if someone has had this problem and how to work things out. We love her, we understand if she has this Hyperesthesia we think we can manage it with the help of our great vet, but its the pooping. Help!

P.S. our vet did say to add another litterbox for now to another area of our condo to give her an option (its not a big condo so hard to do this, but might be an option).

 

[FeebysOwner]

Is the diarrhea gone now? Her little behind could be irritated by the diarrhea if not, and could be part of the cause of going outside the litter box. Even if the diarrhea is now gone, depending on how long ago it stopped, her bottom could still be bothering her some.

I think the vet's advice about another litter box is very good idea. If she does use it, you could consider buying one that is somewhat camouflaged - just using this link to pics of one example:

https://www.chewy.com/new-age-pet-ecoflex-litter-loo-end/dp/142743?utm_id=272259755&msclkid=c414579bb2a91b937b910b34e452a2bf&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping-Product Targets-Hard Goods-NB&utm_term=4584757331516790&utm_content=Cat Furniture

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I would LOVE to be able to swoop in here and give you a solution to this, but...here's the thing. Apparently, her poor bottom is a main focus of the hyperesthesia. I doubt much can be done about the pooping until you find the correct medication and dosage, at which point it will become only an occasional thing. Think of it as feeling as if ants were biting your bum every time you had to potty. I imagine your own toilet habits might suffer!

 

[aaronalexander]

I would LOVE to be able to swoop in here and give you a solution to this, but...here's the thing. Apparently, her poor bottom is a main focus of the hyperesthesia. I doubt much can be done about the pooping until you find the correct medication and dosage, at which point it will become only an occasional thing. Think of it as feeling as if ants were biting your bum every time you had to potty. I imagine your own toilet habits might suffer!

Thank you

 

[aaronalexander]

Well I'd say for two weeks everything was really good. She didn't really have a problem. Occasionally we had to coax her to the litter box but all in all for almost 2 weeks everything was looking really good. And then in the last 3 days, things went a little sideways. She started getting those crazy moments/zoomies and pooped out of the box. Really feel like the medication is correct, seemed like the dosage seemed to really be working, then boom not so much all of a sudden. Thinking though this is the long term adventure and maybe a bit more dosage could be needed, who knows.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sorry to hear she took a bit of a backward slide. Did the vet say that this was a possibility - in that the dosage could work for a while, and then not so much later?

Perhaps, since stress can set off a bout with hyperesthesia, something recently happened to trigger more stress in her? It is possible that upping the dosage for a brief period of time and then lowering it back down might be the solution. You can ask your vet if that might be an option.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

It can take a while to sort out the proper medication and dosage. Do ask your vet about upping it a bit. That might do the trick.

 

[mermaidsblue]

Our little girl "Muppet" (yes that's her name) was diagnosed with Feline Hyperesthesia just last week. Seems about a month ago something changed in one day: She had a huge bout of diarrhea and ever since that day, things have been different. For awhile there around 30-60min before a bowl movement she would start to act nutty. Constantly licking, running around, pupils full, almost a bit crazy (which we've read up on and understand now). Biggest problem we've had is for some reason the sensation/nerves that are aggravated when the bowl movement is coming on must do something to her as she won't always use the litterbox to poop. Sometimes she uses it for a moment, then dropping poop all around as she runs away (due to her nerves being aggravated) or sometimes she just poops where she is at the moment in the living room, bedroom, etc etc.

Fast forward to now and she's on Gabapentin for the past week. We've noticed a major difference in the 30-60min follow up to the bowl movement. The "craziness" we saw before has been dulled down a bit. She tends to just walk around meowing with a bit of the "Zoomies". The problem of pooping still happens. And lets be clear, urinating is 100% perfect. She always uses the box. But the pooping we either catch her about to go in the living room and toss her by the litterbox and she goes or find some droppings here and there. Tomorrow we up her dosage from .23ml twice a day to .47ml twice a day. Because she had some problems with diarrhea in the last month she's been on a Probeobiotic powder once a day, we've added pumpkin (she likes this) and changed up her food to Kangroo (WHICH SHE LOVES!). I guess what I'm asking of anyone, if someone has had this problem and how to work things out. We love her, we understand if she has this Hyperesthesia we think we can manage it with the help of our great vet, but its the pooping. Help!

P.S. our vet did say to add another litterbox for now to another area of our condo to give her an option (its not a big condo so hard to do this, but might be an option).

hello ... I saw your post ... I am having the exact same issue with my young boy of 7 months... can you give me an update on your situation or if the meds worked ? we are all struggling with this in my house ! thank you !!

 

[mani]

M mermaidsblue the member who started this thread hasn't been back, so you probably won't get a response from her.
We've locked this one now, but you might like to describe exactly what is going on with your boy in your own thread.