Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

ilanit — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 04:55:52 GMT

I don't think scratching is a big issue.. owner did not mention it. (although I never saw the owner or the cat.. this is just info from my colleague)

Their main complaint is episodes of twitching/jerking movements (you can see jerking of the head and twitching of the ears on the video). I was searching on tremors in siamese and came across hypersensitivity syndrome. I guess I like seeing zebras :) Then I noticed the excessive tail licking in the video and thought it could fit.

Thanks for your comments.. I'll follow it up with my colleague and try to get a bit more detailed history.

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

Lindsey Edwards — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:03:58 GMT

If ectoparasite negative I would suggest an ivca accredited chiropractor to assess and adjust - cat deserves every chance to be comfortable and if all 'conventional' diagnosis draws a blank, maybe an adjustment of neuromuscular sensory organs may 'reset the computer'.

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

Anthony Todd — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 20:40:43 GMT

Watched the video. sorry to suggest the obvious but she/he wouldn't have fleas??

seen those sort of hysterical responses in cats with flea bites.

Definitely not the behaviour to stimulus I described before.

Dare I suggest a shot of steroids to see if it helped?

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

ilanit — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:01:35 GMT

Thank you!

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

Anthony Todd — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 16:41:38 GMT

I used to see a similar thing quite often where, when I went to scruff the cat, it reacted violently as if it was extremely painful. Gentle "pinching" down the spine from neck to tail showed other areas giving the same reaction.

I called them "necky" cats and sometimes gave them the dreaded steroids thinking it was some sort of inflammation.

It was very noticeable when you tried to inject them in the neck. Nothing to see or feel though.

I likened it to "hot backed" horses which I've heard about but never seen.

Ring any bells with anyone?

Re: Feline hyperesthesia syndrome?

Mark Lowrie — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:26:37 GMT

Feline hyperaesthesia syndrome is an idiopathic disorder with likely multifactorial causes that usually cause episodic twitching of the muscles. Typical signs include episodic bouts of being hyperaesthetic, licking frantically at the lumbar region, chasing and attacking the tail and possibly running frantically round the house afterwards. Not sure what the cat here is showing as I can’t see the video too clearly so not sure if the signs above are what you are seeing.

Differential diagnoses considered for this presentation would be a structural spinal or paraspinal source of irritation and, less likely, partial psychomotor seizure activity. Therefore to ‘diagnose’ the condition you really need to exclude other more common causes. However, in the absence of other causes, management of feline hyperaesthesia syndrome would be to try gabapentin (10-20 mg/kg TID) or pregabalin (usually 12.5mg per cat BID). If this doesn’t work you can sometimes consider tricylicic antidepressants or phenobarbital (in case of this being an unusual manifestation of seizures).

However, I stress this is a rare diagnosis so try and exclude other causes first!