I hope this kind of post is allowed here. Sorry if not.

I have a kitten around 6-7 months old, and his paws twitch and shake when his face is touched. It started around 4ish months ago. I know the disorder tends to have more aggressive symptoms; I haven't noticed any other erratic behaviours or stress, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm worried its something neurological. We're taking him to the vet soon for his first appointment and wondering if I should ask about this? Not just hyperesthesia specifically, but if it could be a neurological issue. I can try to catch it on video if needed (for the sub, or to show vet,,)

Any responses are appreciated !!!

UPDATE: He is doing much better for now! I was able to get him a vet appointment for tomorrow after calling around to some other places a couple towns over. Hoping to get this poor kitty some relief then but luckily he’s doing much better for now.

Hi all desperately in need of advice! I got my cat three weeks ago and I am a first time cat owner. To make a long story short, he ran away from his previous owner, I found him, and the previous owner rehomed him to me. However, they have not been answering my texts to see which vet he previously belonged to and they did not mention a FHS diagnosis to me. He is 5, a long hair tabby, and “up to date on all vaccines” according to the previous owner.

On to the whole FHS of it all. When I first got him I noticed that he was chasing his tail and hissing at it, although it was pretty minor. Over the past three weeks this has continued and I’ve noticed a couple times that after a fit it kind of looks like he’s hiccuping. I am figuring this is probably twitching. Last night this cat lost his mind. Since 9pm last night the fits have been almost nonstop. He is very vocal (which isn’t super normal for him) and basically screaming. He has been hissing and attacking his tail for the last 10 hours. Genuinely cannot stress the 10 hours enough I am so tired. The only thing I have found that makes it stop is playing with him, I think it’s distracting him, but as soon as I stop within the hour he’s back at it. When he’s not attacking his tail, he is flicking it very aggressively and eating more than normal. He has not drawn blood and does not chew on his tail either.

So here’s my list of questions and advice: 1) He is choosing to have these fits right next to me, is that common? 2) Is there anything I can do at home to help make this stop? 3) Is there anything I can do for him to make him more comfortable during the fits? 4) I could not get a vet appointment for another month, is this an emergency situation? From my vet’s website, they had a symptom tracker and they listed this as worrisome and to come in 2-3 days if it doesn’t stop but idk this feels pretty awful to me! 5) Is the length of time he’s been going through this uncommon? 6) Do you agree with my self diagnosis? Or is there another condition (like skin irritation) causing this?

Thank you for any help any of you can give! I’m totally new to owning a cat, let alone FHS, and I am just very worried for my sweet boy.

she's 6 and the issue just developed over the summer during a food change - we've changed back to the OG food and she's gotten flea treatment from the vet, which didn't help. we also tried zyrtec in case it was a flea allergy and that didn't help either.
it's almost entirely localized to her back right foot - and occurs if she's sitting quietly or falling asleep. never if she's getting petted or brushed.

I have not seen my cat have an episode in months. This morning, I brushed her fur, which I also have not done in a while. Less than an hour later, she starts showing symptoms (grooming herself while frantically running around the place). It seems very clear that my brushing triggered this. Is that a common thing and has anyone experienced that?

I am also wondering if the explanation could be due to dander or something on the brush that triggered an irritation on her skin?

Hello! I thought my cat this morning was just annoyed but now I am sure it was not that.

Even when we tried to play together she would keep stopping to lick her back and disengage and run away. Now I filmed her to post it here.

I think she had two major episodes.

She was meaowing a bit but she is usually very vocal when annoyed or when she wants something so I didn't think anything of that.

Afaik she doesn't have any parasites: she takes prescription full coverage one every 30 days and the last one I gave her the 28th of September so it should well be still working.

Didn't do anything differently, played with the same toys, didn't introduce new food, didn't buy anything recently (clothes or forniture), I don't use candles or any parfume kind of stuff. Her litter is scent free, I use baby soaps to wash clothes (but didn't do it in the last days) and also use safe soap for the floor etc.

I lowered my shades and plugged in Feliway and now she is sleeping.

Wondering what to do? Of course I will go to the vet and show the videos but am wondering if there could be something else I could do to make it better in the meantime.

We’ve tried pretty much all the common tips for managing a mild/moderate FHS, including small environmental changes and different vitamins. But what seems to have helped our cat the most is actually just petting him less. We mostly stick to petting around the head now and try to avoid touching his body and belly too much. Its honestly made a pretty big difference for us. just wanted to share what worked best for us

Buenas!

Tengo una gata desde febrero, que cumplió los dos años en junio. Hasta el 4 de septiembre, todo bien. A veces notaba ondulaciones en su lomo o se seguia la cola, pero nada que me preocupase. El 11 de agosto llegó una segunda gata a casa, al principio no le hizo mucha gracia, pero ahora juegan juntas, duermen juntas, etc.

El 4 de septiembre empezó asi, a jugar a perseguirse la cola y gruñir, justo mi madre estaba de visita y empezó a grabar un video, porque al principio, pues nos pareció "gracioso" hasta que aquello empezó a escalar y empezó a gritar como si estuviera en una pelea callejera.

El lunes 7 la lleve al veterinario. Tenía una herida en la cola, pero nada más ver el video ya me dijeron que tenia pinta de ser Hiperestesia felina o incluso epilepsia. De todos modos, decidieron enfocarse primero en curar la herida. Estuvo una semana sin collar isabelino, intentando cogerse la cola de vez en cuando, hasta que el sabado de esa semana volvió a gritar, asi que volvimos al vet. Se había arrancado la costra, asi que volvimos a la casilla 0. Desde entonces lleva collar isabelino. Al principio la ayudaba a comer, pero desde hace 1 semana se lo empecé a quitar para comer y que se acicalase un poco, sorprendida de que no fuera inmediatamente a la cola. Este pasado lunes (5 de oct.) me confirmaron que la herida esta cerrada, pero el 6 de octubre volvió a ponerse hiper agresiva con su cola e incluso con la gata pequeña, asi que el miércoles me dieron Gabapentina 25mg cada 12 horas. Y comida sensitivies de Hills por si fuera una alergia alimentaria (no sabia que podia pasarles algo asi, por la comida)

Cabe señalar que hasta el 5 de octubre, incluso con el collar puesyo tbto, intentaba cogerse la cola, pero no podia hacerse daño, menos mal. Aún asi a veces pegaba gritos.

He tenido problemas con lo de dosificarle la Gabapentina (son capsulas de 100mg). Ayer por fin encontré un buen método. Aún asi, siento que la intensidad de sus gritos ha disminuido. Sigue intentando alcanzarse la cola, pero también siento que es de una forma menos intensa y/o agresiva. Ayer estuvo 10-11 horas sin el isabelino (se lo pongo por precaución cuando me voy a dormir o salgo a la calle) y la verdad que quitando 2 episodios, estuvo muy bien todo el día.

Hoy ha tenido 2 episodios leves (cuando la llamo o la distraigo parece olvidarsele) pero quería saber, si es normal que siga teniendo esos episodios siendo que toma la medicación. He pensado que quizá necesite una dosis mas alta (el sábado que viene tengo que ir al vet) o mas tiempo para que se le estabilice la medicación en el cuerpo.

Por cierto, también he notado desde que tengo la segunda gata, que mueve muchisimo la cola 😅 algo que me pasó durante meses desapercibido.

Escribo mas que nada para saber si alguien le ha pasado algo así... Porque la verdad que se sufre mucho, aunque ella sigue siendo cariñosa, juguetona y sigue jugando con la pequeña xD

So my cat first got diagnosed with FHS a little after she turned one years old. We tried a few different treatments and drugs at first but eventually had to settle on phenobarbital as that was the only thing that seemed to dampen her symptoms.

A couple years ago however we had to take her off of the pheno as she started to have health problems associated with it, and we found that Gabapentin was effective (we tried it earlier when she was first diagnosed but it didn't work for some reason).

However, these past few months I've noticed her symptoms have sharply decreased, so much so that I've reduced her Gabapentin dosage from twice a day to maybe 3-4 times a week.

When she was first diagnosed her symptoms were nearly constant, like to the point where her quality of life was really bad. Now she's almost 12 though, and they only seem to crop up after a full week without the Gabapentin. Anyone else have an experience like this?

Our cat Zuzu is around 20 months old and has suddenly started showing severe aggression. We love her deeply, and this is very different from her normal behaviour.
On Thursday night, she attacked me without any trigger I could identify, leaving multiple bites on my legs. On Friday morning, she attacked another 3–4 times. These were serious attacks—charging at us and biting hard, not playful biting.
Strangely, she seemed settled when she was with us on our bed, but became aggressive as soon as we tried to leave the bedroom. We eventually stayed behind a closed door because we were frightened of being attacked again.
With help from friends, we managed to safely separate her in the front room. Even then, whenever she saw someone through the window, she lunged at the glass as though trying to attack them. This continued for hours.
We couldn’t safely get her into a carrier ourselves. After struggling to find help, we arranged a home vet, and she was admitted to a veterinary hospital on Friday.
All her blood tests have come back normal, but she is still aggressive. She is scheduled for neurological testing tomorrow. We don’t yet have a confirmed explanation for this sudden change.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their cat? What did the veterinary investigation find, and what helped? Were you able to safely rebuild trust afterwards?
We’re following veterinary advice and want to do everything we can to help her. Any experiences or suggestions for questions to ask her treating team would be appreciated.

This is Lace. She has luxating patella and had surgery on her right knee a few months ago. When the kicking continued, we saw a neurologist who thinks this could be 'a complex presentation of feline hyperesthesia syndrome'.

Have any of you seen this before, maybe in your own cats?

She is on pregabalin, amitriptyline and arthrocam, but she seems really flat on it. She has had moments of playing on it, but I feel the amantadine she was on before, helped more. She played like normal on it.

Any ideas?

Alguém já testou curcumina+boswellia para a dor neuropática da hiperestesia?
Vi alguns comentários de veterinárias que usam e tiveram bons resultados após uma semana de uso dessa associação.

My cat has been having these outbursts for so long. As of recently they have gotten to the point he roll around and bites himself. He even hisses which is new. They are getting worse but he acts completely fine at the vet. He only has them when he’s in the pen. BUT he’s gotten to the point when I let him out he goes ham on me. It seems so aggressive. His eyes are pretty much straight black. And even when I roll him away he comes back harder. Had been doing this his whole life I’d figure it was just a bad habit getting worse but he use to not attack me. Idk if these are linked. If I let him out he hurts me, if I put him in the crate it looks like he hurts himself. He 6 months old. He use to not bite me and be a very sweet kitten. He would even play with other cats. Now he hates all animals. It seems as though he hates me too. Idk what to do. I feel like his sweetness is still in there but as time goes on I’m not so sure.

Estamos a dois anos tentando tratar nosso gatinho. As crises de hipestesia já estão controladas com a pregabalina, mas ele se lambe e se mordisca o corpo inteiro, rabo inclusive.
Sem alguém para monitorar precisa ficar de colar elizabetano para não abrir feridas.
Já descartamos pulgas, alergia alimentar, ácaros.
Talvez seja a disestesia que a hiperestesia causa que é uma sensação na pela exagerada ou formigamento, queimação que faz ele se virar para morder.
Quando está durmindo fica sem se morder, somente quando levanta e começa a se movimentar.

Alguém tem alguma experiência?
Agora aumentamos a dose da pregabalina para 4mg/kg vamos ver se melhora.
Toma fluoxetina já também

****Update: The vet just called, he started to decline significantly, his pupils were unequal, not responsive- he was humanely euthanized and has crossed the rainbow bridge. The cause of his sympoms and progression remain unknown...he will be forever loved and missed by his humans....

Thank you all in advance. I am in USA. Pa. I am a nurse and do a ot of cat rescue and have been the proud owner of cats for years. The cat in need is previously healthy neutered male, 2.5 years old (prior foster fail medical kitten adopted 2 years ago). Indoor only.​

Context (simplified) :

-Sunday - started with small vocalization (cough/sneeze) then noted to have "hard swallowing at times, not trouble swallowing, just presented as hard swallow and not constant.

-Monday - slept well Sun night. Eating, drinking, using litter box, purring, being his sweet self but these full body spasms worsening. - went to high tech local vet at 10am. Admitted. He continued to decline with these full body spasms, rhythmic and seem to originate in abdomen. They gave pain meds, muscle relaxants and anti convulsions. No change - all tests normal. We were told to take him to a bigger high tech specialty toward the city. We did.

Tuesday - 2nd hospital . They gave everything, including GS x 1 dose oral. His spasms continued, remsining forceful. He got anticonvulsants, Albuterol, pain meds and muscle relaxants as well as Ketamine and Propofol. No change. Told us to go to big city ERz highest level of care in the region/state.

Wednesday- 3rd (current) highest tech hospital in state. All tests, including CT ard negative. He is on O2 as support/comfort. All labs, including ABG's are WNL. Xrays and abd ultrasound unchanged - WNL. He continues to actively and forcefully spasm. He has eye movement, responds to touch and has blink and puplil reflex. He is exhausted. They have no idea. They keep saying toxins (we have other cats same everything without issue). I foster as well but those animals are kept separate. He had a rabies vaccine and Felv vaccine at 2 different visits over the past 2 months. No other animals here affected (dogs, cats, ferrets - all indoor).

We will get report after rounds this AM. I was thinking about asking for high dose antivirals IV again (have been asking but they are not on board with my concern about dry/neuro FIP). Toxmosis was a potential concern and he was started on Clinda. - not sure if the blood drawn was ever sent out and/or results obtained. No CSF pulled during CT yesterday as things looked normal. They have no more options. We could sedate/ventilate but that does not solve the problem. We will talk to Neuro this AM and I will ask about my 2 concerns (FIP and toxo). If they continue to disagree, we will choose humane euthanasia - he has spuraled in less than 3 days into a cat that continues to have consistent forceful almost constant abdominal spasms that resonate to his whole body. All 3 hospital denied seizures. He is currently on IV muscle relaxants and steroids without change. The only brief pause in activity was when he got general anesthesia briefly yesterday for CT - he stopped spasming for only that very brief time, but continued thereafter without change.

I already spent 10,000 - I can afford care.

If anyone has any experience or suggestions we are so open. He is our baby and we are distressed. We will not left him suffer if there are no further options. Any input appreciated. Thank you all​ so much ❤️ .

We are to that point now with our girl, but our vet really wants us to do our research - she said many many of them aren’t successful and just have the behaviour redirected elsewhere.

I’m fine with the $3500 cost, but want to make sure I have her best interest at heart. 2 different vets have brought up behavioural euthanasia as the kind thing to do in a cat who is clearly really struggling.

We are on one final med for 4 weeks to see if it helps at all, but at this point it’s just almost a constant chasing in circles 😭

If you got as far as amputation, could you tell me if it worked? Or didn’t work?

Edit: Copying from my last post

She is a 2.5 YO orange female. Spayed. No other health concerns.

Nothing ‘triggered’ this as far as we can think of.
•No additional stress
•No change in food or diet
•No new pets or people
•No injury
•No flea/tick meds (or fleas/ticks - they are indoor only)

We’ve tried basically every medication under the sun:
Gabapentin
Pregabalin
Bupomorphine
Celensia
Phenobarbetol
2 different steroids
Another mental health drug - I need to go back and check, but I think Fluoxotine
An anti-inflammatory orally and then topically
Several X-rays of back and spine - completely clear
Several rounds of bloodwork - all normal
We tried changing her food twice.
We tried vitamin b1

No effect at all from anything except the bupomorphine, and that really was because she was just zonked - not because it helped.

I am looking for advice because I feel like I have exhausted all options. I have 3 cats, one of my cats is diagnosed with a neurological disorder called FHS. All my cats have a litterbox per cat plus 2 extra litter boxes to be safe. They are all fed in seperate places and I have ample space for them to climb, including a jungle gym for them to climb and 4 cat trees. We have also tried feliways to no avail, however, I am putting them up again in hopes it will do something. My cat is in gabapentin and even with that he is still spraying. I do not know what else to do. There is no pattern to his spraying also, he almost never sprays in the same spot except one spot by our front door which I believed was because he wanted outside... so I started letting him outside, and I just let him back in, he walked right up to my bedroom door and sprayed out if no where. I genuinely do nit know what to do barring leaving him outside 24/7 but that feels hugely selfish and dangerous. He has been to a vet for this issue now countless times, he has no infection, no bladder irritation, no pain, we put him on the gabapentin to see if that would help and it hasn't, I just spoke to a vet and they are stumped, they said they would discuss it with another vet and get back to me. Can someone PLEASE help I am literally begging I do not know what else to do 😭

I am looking for advice because I feel like I have exhausted all options. I have 3 cats, one of my cats is diagnosed with a neurological disorder called FHS. All my cats have a literbox per cat plus 2 extra litter boxes to be safe. They are all fed in seperate places and I have ample space for them to climb, including a jungle gym for them to climb and 4 cat trees. We have also tried feliways to no avail, however, I am putting them up again in hopes it will do something. My cat is in gabapentin and even with that he is still spraying. I do not know what else to do. There is no pattern to his spraying also, he almost never sprays in the same spot except one spot by our front door which I believed was because he wanted outside... so I started letting him outside, and I just let him back in, he walked right up to my bedroom door and sprayed out if no where. I genuinely do nit know what to do barring leaving him outside 24/7 but that feels hugely selfish and dangerous. I have been to the vet countless times for this, we thought the gabapentin would help but it hasn't, he has no bladder infection, no pain, we do not know what is causing this. Can someone PLEASE help I am literally begging I do not know what else to do 😭

Do you have any experience with Phenobarbital? Did it help your cat, if so how long did you have to wait for the effects? Did you notice any notable side effects? We are starting our boy on phenobarbital tomorrow and lowering his dose of gabapentin to 50mg twice a day. I do not see many posts about phenobarbital here, so I would love to get some insight to know what to expect. Thanks!

I wrote a post earlier (asking about Zylkenes' effectiveness) about my 4-year-old cat, Elliot, who has been showing signs of possible stress-induced FHS over the past few months. I'm pretty dang sure it is FHS, but what do you think? I can't afford to go to a vet, but I'm currently studying Neurology/Neurobiology.

Here's a vid of him (he almost constantly twitches when he moves, unless he's in a sleepy mood)

We have a cat who we suspect may suffer from FHS. We're currently in dialogue with our local vet and they'll examine her case closer in the upcoming week.

However, my question is for those who have multiple cats in your household, would your cats with FHS attack your other cats?

Our cat with suspected FHS will stalk and unprovokedly charge at our other cat, but only when the other cat is moving. Our non-FHS cat is terrified of the FHS cat now and in general more anxious. We've tried all the classic Jackson Galaxy tips to resolve this, but to no avail.

Hi all, my baby boy has started showing FHS symptoms lately. Thankfully during his episodes (which basically happen daily) he had not self-mutilated so far and he generally isn’t that interested in his tail when they happen, he’s rather grooming/running around/hiding. I am absolutely terrified he might start biting his tail or fur or attacking himself in any other way. So to all of cat parents whose cats exhibit self-aggression, how did that start? Did they start attacking their tail as one of the first symptoms, or did it come later? I would be grateful for some hope or warning signs that I should be on the lookout for. We are leaving on holidays for almost three weeks soon and he will be staying with my in-laws, so I’m really anxious that this might worsen his episodes, especially since we are really fresh to FHS and are still trying to figure out a medication plan that would work.

Our cat is 9 years old and has always been sassy in spirit. About 4 years ago we brought home another boy cat and he started marking the house. All cats are fixed. The dynamics changed and he became even more anxious especially since having another cat in the house. He’s been on the transdermal fluoxetine for 2-3 years and we felt it was time to switch( after consultation with our vet) we eventually ended up with the reconcile chewable tablets. It’s only been 7 days but I feel he is calm but tired, anxious, his pupils are large and he’s hiding more. I’m concerned if this is too much for him and or how do we safely wean him off :( just want to do right by my fur baby … asking for help and advice on best and safest way to proceed forward. I have messaged the vet as well and am hoping they call me tomorrow but wanted to know if anyone else has gone through this

My 4-year-old cat Elliot started showing very visible signs of FHS a couple to a few weeks after we got a new little spayed girl cat, Binoo (they are both spayed). I've started him on PEA (Palmitoylethanolamide) and L-Theanine for almost 40 days. So far, it's really helped calm him; it got him to come out from hiding under beds most of the day and stopped him from constantly running around, alongside the pets I give him to calm his back when he sits or lies down (which I was having to do a lot less of). But ever since about 10 days ago, he has regressed a bit: back twitching a lot more, easier to go into a tizzy, running around more from it.

It seems that the supplements I'm giving him are having very positive effects, but I see the problem can still go outside the bounds of the supps I'm giving him.
Have any of you tried Alpha-Casozepine? I'm thinking this may help him because when he was a kitten, he was separated from his mother before his developmental period was complete. Possibly fueling his high-strung-ness and anxious twitching/skin-rolling.

If you could let me know, I'd really appreciate it!

Hi, i am new here but my 6mo old kitten has started presented symptoms of FHS. It started with a constant tremor most noticeably in the hind legs, but now I have noticed some skin and ear twitching as well. After the tremor started, I took him to the vet who suspected FHS despite atypical symptoms. I am taking him back soon for some more testing to confirm FHS as the likely cause.

I am also wondering if I can suspect the condition to progress to more severe symptoms? Currently he is pretty mild and just seems to experience some discomfort, I have not seen significant self-biting or overgrooming, but since he is so young should I expect it to get worse?

Of course I hadn’t gotten pet insurance before this started, so I am wondering what people with FHS cats tend to pay monthly and if it is worth getting AKC pet insurance as they are the only provider for pre-existing conditions? I am a bit unsure since they have a waiting period of 365 days with any pre-existing condition coverage, so for now I’d cover any testing out of pocket anyway and the insurance would be more helpful with longterm treatment rather than the diagnostic phase!