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  1. ramscici

    (Suspected) Feline Hyperesthesia

    Hi there, just wanted to jump in because I also have a cat with FHS that mutilates herself as part of the condition. Tail chasers and self mutilators 99% of the time need an SSRI on board with an anticonvulsant like gabapentin to stop the behavior. For my cat personally, gabapentin alone wasn’t...
  2. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Hello everyone. Updating again… Celeste has been officially cone free for a week and she is doing very well. She is continuing her Prozac 5mg once a day and 100mg of gabapentin twice a day. She was in a cone for two months while we figured out her correct medication so that her tail could heal...
  3. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Unfortunately CBD did not work for Celeste, I gave that a try too. Not until she got on Prozac and Gabapentin did I start to see improvement. The ThunderShirt helps too during bad days and while I was waiting for the meds to kick in (SSRIs can take up to 4 months in cats to see the full results...
  4. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Hi everyone, I wanted to give an update here just in case it helps anyone else trying to get answers to this frustrating disorder. Unfortunately though the ThunderShirt does help Celeste a lot, it is not the cure and she has continued to be very difficult to help throughout April and May. I...
  5. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Happy update for this evening. I decided to try out the ThunderShirt just to give it a whirl, not expecting much, and lo and behold she has shown an amazing response to it. As soon as she got over her initial annoyance at us putting it on, she started purring, kneading, and she hasn’t tried to...
  6. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Thank you for the suggestion, @Elvisrocks — I will definitely check it out, I really appreciate it! I do feel like I need to join some support group of people because you are correct, it doesn’t seem vets have a ton of answers about this disorder and it’s very hard to watch your kitty have to go...
  7. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Ugh, so it’s been 72 hours and it was time to remove the bandages this evening… that did not go over well. It was taped on so well that it was pulling at her fur coming off and she was NOT happy. We got most of it off, but in the struggle her collar came off and she grabbed the last bit of gauze...
  8. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Hi @fionasmom - that’s great to hear about your GSD and I am hopeful, especially because she’s just been sleepy on gaba but otherwise been sweet and just as cuddly as always. maybe even more so because she wants to feel safe. She has the soft Elizabethan collar, not the plastic cone version...
  9. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    That’s great to hear and I’m very happy for Lulu! I hope that CiCi will continue to do well on gabapentin once her tail heals. This disorder is so frustrating, because it could literally be anything. Obsessive compulsion behavior, neurological imbalance, skin allergy, or a combination of all...
  10. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    A quick update from today: Celeste is doing well in her e collar, being a good sport, and eating well at mealtimes. She is being sweet as usual and trilling at me, trying to walk around a bit (though groggily), even playing a little bit— although it’s hard with her limited vision of course. I...
  11. ramscici

    Should I say goodbye to my cat?

    I’m so sorry you and your kitty are going through this. I want to echo everyone else’s advice though and say that to me, it doesn’t sound like “the time” to let her go. She’s still eating, doing things with you, and she had responded to a course of steroids initially. I’m not diagnosing her, of...
  12. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Hi @Lulu&Finn - Celeste has food allergies as well, and she has had a bout of feline eosinophilic granuloma complex with lip ulcers and dermatitis and baldness on one of her ears when she as a kitten. We had her on prednisolone, and through process of elimination and analysis of ingredients...
  13. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Thank you. The good news is that she has since eaten as of my last post. I think it was when the gabapentin kicked in the most; she was very dopey but looked happy, despite having a cone on. She still is having trouble navigating but I’m not sure if it’s the cone, the medication, or both. She...
  14. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    She is so conked on the gaba. Poor sweet thing. She is kneading on me though.
  15. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Well, a bit of an update if anyone here reads this and runs into a similar issue: Celeste was up all night trying to get at her tail, I think it’s a vicious cycle because it was open and bleeding and she was in pain. I stayed up for a lot of the night trying to get her to stop. I can usually...
  16. ramscici

    (Suspected) Feline Hyperesthesia

    Thats great to hear and very encouraging, thank you @fionasmom - we’ve had a rough night over here. Came home to tons of blood all over the apartment and Celeste had basically mutilated the tip of her tail. Thankfully, I had already called the vet today to ask if we can try gabapentin as she had...
  17. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Today Celeste bit the tip of her tail enough so that it was bleeding. We are getting gabapentin tomorrow. I’m very upset, I was hoping she wouldn’t get to this stage. :( Fingers crossed it helps her.
  18. ramscici

    (Suspected) Feline Hyperesthesia

    That’s great to hear. Celeste is a sensitive cat with food allergies who has been on steroids for a long time previously. They changed her personality and made her lethargic. We ended up figuring out what her allergen was by process of elimination and were able to wean her off. She was so much...
  19. ramscici

    Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

    Thank you very much @fionasmom - and sorry to hear about Chelsea, both her hyperesthesia and lymphoma. Hyperesthesia is such an odd disease and for whatever reason it seems to be getting more common nowadays— or maybe people are just talking about it more? What is odd though is that I had 7 cats...
  20. ramscici

    (Suspected) Feline Hyperesthesia

    Glad to hear your cat is responding on gabapentin. Please keep us updated over the coming days. Little Cat sounds a lot like my Celeste and I am dealing with a similar issue and debating on gabapentin or not. I didn’t want to medicate but the hyperesthesia seems to be getting worse and not...
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