Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome — What Is It and How Do You Treat It?
With their unique ways and fickle preferences, it’s no secret that cats can be a little weird. But sometimes, that strange thing your cat does is actually a medical problem. Take, for instance, feline hyperesthesia syndrome, sometimes called twitch-skin syndrome, rippling-skin disease or rolling-skin syndrome.
What is feline hyperesthesia?
A cat with hyperesthesia may lick at her back, flank area or tail. Photography by DoraZett/Thinkstock.
“Cats with hyperesthesia syndrome are extremely sensitive to touch in the lower back region,” says Michelle Murray, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM (Neurology), CCRT, owner of NEST Veterinary Neurology in San Clemente, California. “Touching this area can cause them to suddenly vocalize, salivate, scratch, bite or lick at their back, flank area or tail, or even urinate. The skin along the back appears to twitch or ripple. They can be agitated and often run frantically around the house for about 20 to 30 seconds until the episode stops.” Cats generally go back to acting normal after an episode passes.
This disorder is extremely rare. Dr. Murray says that even in her neurology-only practice, she does not see it often. But for those cats who are affected, feline hyperesthesia syndrome can be troubling, especially for cats who self-mutilate in an effort to curb the uncomfortable feelings caused by an episode. It can affect cats at any age, although it’s more frequently seen in adult cats. Any cat breed or mixed breed can be affected.
What should you do if you think your cat has feline hyperesthesia?
If you notice your cat exhibiting symptoms of possible hyperesthesia, schedule an appointment with your regular veterinarian, who will examine your cat to look for other causes for the symptoms, such as an injury, skin disorder or flea infestation causing severe itching, or painful condition like orthopedic and spine or nerve problems.
If your vet cannot pinpoint a cause of the symptoms, the next step would be to consult a veterinary neurologist for another exam and more tests.
Diagnosing hyperesthesia in cats
“There is no specific test for feline hyperesthesia syndrome,” Dr. Murray explains. “The exact cause is actually unknown, but thought to be a type of seizure disorder. For this reason, the only way to diagnose feline hyperesthesia disorder is to rule out other causes for the episodes.”
Tests that your regular vet and/or veterinary neurologist might want to run include basic lab work; skin scrapings, biopsies or cultures; X-rays; and possibly advanced imaging such as MRI. “With feline hyperesthesia syndrome, all of these tests can be totally normal,” Dr. Murray explains. If no other specific cause can be identified, the veterinarian might arrive at a diagnosis of hyperesthesia syndrome. Know that it might take some time to go through the process of testing for and ruling out the various conditions that might be causing the symptoms.
The final word on feline hyperesthesia
Although the exact cause of feline hyperesthesia syndrome is still a mystery, since many veterinarians believe it to be a seizure disorder, treatment involves using medications.
“Anti-seizure medications (such as phenobarbital or gabapentin), anti-anxiety medications (amitryptiline or Prozac) and/or anti-inflammatories (prednisone) have varying degrees of success,” Dr. Murray says. “It is also helpful to keep the environment as calm as possible and not to touch the cat’s back area to avoid triggering episodes. In general, the prognosis is good but may involve the long-term use of medication(s) to manage the symptoms as well as possible.”
Tell us: Does your cat have feline hyperesthesia? How do you deal with it?
Thumbnail: Photography © zlyka2008 | Thinkstock.
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12 comments on “Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome — What Is It and How Do You Treat It?”
My male cat has this disease. He had 2 seizures when he was younger and still sometimes chases his own tail / randomly will start talking to himself. I read somewhere feeding them tuna makes this disorder 10x worse. Since I stopped the tuna, his seizures stopped as well. He still gets that scary glazed look in his eyes (like the Shark from Finding Nemo) where his pupils fully dilate. Calming treats are working wonders for him as well.
In May of 2012 the local SPCA had an open house on kittens and we picked a brother and sister. (One long hair and one short hair) A year or so later we noticed erratic behavior of the male. We live in the mountains over 50 miles from a vet so did our due diligence on the Web. Everything indicated Hyperesthesia. The more we read convinced us we had the right condition. As we live above 3500 feet in the mountains there are no fleas. The cats have been indoor cats since day 1. His seizures are quite regular ,usually 1 or so a day. They do not fall in the severe category and there is no hair pulling. I think that at least for us the fact that his surroundings are quiet has a lot to do with his well being. Best wishes to those of you that have a buddy with this. Lots of love and care have gone a long way for us and ‘no meds needed.
My cat is four years old now and we have been struggling until just recently to find a vet that knew of or was even willing to treat her for her FHS. She started displaying symptoms at six months. She used to have severe attacks where one second she is fine and the next second there is blood everywhere and her tail is drenched. (As you can guess there were a lot of emergency vet visits.)
Finally, after four vets, found one that was actually willing to help her. She is currently on phenobarb and gabapentin and her attacks have lessened dramatically.
I was reading the other comments of a few attacks a year. My cat was having bloody attacks almost every other week before we found a vet that would listen to us. (Funny how the other four didnt care she was ripping herself open and claimed it was a single flea).
What all has your FHS cats been on medication wise? We are still trying to work out dosages and she is building up a tolerance very quickly to pheno and gaba.
My sweet yellow eyed tangerine angel baby Nala :( I noticed a few years ago that she was running around the house acting very strange, I mean usually she does this but I know shes just goofing around but that time she was running and stopping and licking herself very aggressively and panting very hard and breathing hard. Her little nose and ears were bright red and hot. She wasn’t aggressive but she growled at me when I tried to see what was wrong but no hissing or scratching, I think she was confused. This happens a few times a year since then and each time I am worried because I cant help her. She is also almost 8 years old. Ive watched videos of cats with this syndrome and done some research and I am positive this is what she has. I am glad I can put a name to this problem but I am upset as to why she has this. In the summer she ripped a chunk of fur from her paw because of this. If these symptoms resemble this disease, I would greatly appreciate some advice, I love my baby ball Nala with all my heart.
I had a kitten that was diagnosed with hyperethsia at around 8 months old. My vet put her on 10 mg of Amitriptyline 1/5 tablet a day and she has been fine ever since. My vet says there are a lot of meds out there that could treat this but they also have side effects. With the Amitriptyline there isn’t any. I give her a half a tablet at night with her dinner and a little while later she’s napping then awake and ready to go. The pills are very bitter and can be tasted even in the tastiest of treats or wet food; even pill pockets didn’t work. I have to use a pill popper and put it in the back of her throat and then immediately put her food bowl in front of her. She swollows and then starts to eat and never notices it. Hope this helps
My cat is four years old and was rescued ast a 3.5 week old. He was bottle fed with kitten formula ( which we did not know even existed). As a result, our cat never imprinted and learned all cat skills. There have been four major episodes of intensified symptoms of feline hyperesthesia involving self injurious tail biting. In between these episodes, he is experiencing back ripples in the skin,air bites at his tail, and running as if something invisible is chasing him. It has been a long journey since his last major incident in which we realized separation anxiety is the essential trigger. There is an overall of physical and neurological component which is difficult to manage. This poor guy was not living a high quality of life at one point recently and that created major discussions. At one point he had bitten his tail, while we were at work and was so anxious that he had peed in the closet ( which is unheard of for him). Reluctantly, we acknowledged that he needed medicine beyond our homeopathic approach and we rely on the Thunder jacket, which is essentially a cat swaddle. He is on the road to maintaining a healthy life and we long for medicines for pain and anxiety to slowly be phased out. We have found that zyklene ( homeopathic) is a positive factor for Him as well. I have found for all of my research, there is not one thing that will facilitate your cats wellness with feline hyperesthesia and for a bit on our case… giving him the medicine was another anxiety trigger. Good luck all!
My senior cat has hyperesthesia. The vet prescribed prednisone for a short duration and gave me phenobarbitol to administer if the seizures became more frequent. At the present time, she has intermittent seizures so I have not had to give her any meds. She eats and drinks water, uses the litter box and basically sleeps all day. My only concern is that she has developed mats on her back where she can’t reach and can’t be touched. I may have to resort to taking her to the vet to be sedated so the groomer can remove/shave the mats.
I have a cat with hyperesthesia and was feeling lonely in the feline world. then I opened Catster and ran into this article. Daisy is on phenobarbital and is a much happier kitty for it. She’s not doped up, but relaxed, playful and loving. I think her sister, Lilly, has it too, to a lesser extent and I will soon talk to her Vet about possibly medicating her, too. This disorder made my cat miserable. She wanted to be loved but she was so sensitive to touch it was torture for her – like bitten by a dozen mega-fleas. If you suspect your cat has it, please take her to the vet and have her checked out for other problems as well as a solid diagnosis. St. John’s Wort is actually poisonous to cats.
We once had a cat that I was sure had hyperesthesia. She was not domesticated, but we still fed her and tried to care for her when she was around. There were times when she would run frantically throughout the yard, almost desperate to make the itching and/or pain go away. She would meow-cry at times in discomfort. You could see she would start to get pretty frantic. After much research, I finally got some St. John’s Wort. When I fed her, I would put a teeny drop into the food that she would eat. I repeated this process until it seemed she was no longer ailing. The St. John’s Wort did the trick. It is like it got rid of it completely somehow. I would highly recommend this treatment.
Can you tell me how much is a tiny drop?I would like to try it on my kitty.
A VERY small drop of the liquid mixed into the canned food…our cat never died, nor did our cat get sick from the minute dosage. Instead, our cat became relaxed and never suffered any other kind of reaction besides relief. When our cat was better, I ceased giving her any more doses; she never had need for more treatment. If St. John’s Wort is really that bad, you would think our cat would have succumbed to that danger…but, we are not experts. So, proceed at your own risk and use caution in dosage to make sure it is very little given at a time. It did not take that long for results…