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- Sep 4, 2018
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Hi everyone,
I have a very anxious kitty, Celeste, who has seemed to have developed feline hyperesthesia as of April 2021. While she is not to the point of severe self mutilation, she is running around the house away from herself for at least 40-50% of the day, tail going wild. She is obsessively and aggressively licking the tip of it as well as her hindquarters, and her skin ripples a lot. She doesn’t bleed, but she does sometimes pull hair out, though she isn’t having any bald patches or anything at this time. She also gets twitchy ears in bad episodes.
A few weeks ago she had a bad episode where she grabbed her tail in her mouth and growled very loudly. I decided to take her to the vet and told them about it, as well as my suspicion of feline hyperesthesia. They did a basic neurological test for responsiveness, checked her blood, checked her visually and her fur. All looked good. The vet recommended trying her on gabapentin which she said can be helpful in hyperesthesia. I am somewhat familiar with it as I have a boy who had a blockage that was on it during recovery. I just hate the thought of her being on long term medication. I have also tried some of Jackson Galaxy’s Scaredy Cat holistic drops, but it doesn’t seem to be helping.
This morning too, she was panting visually and nothing I could do would help bring her out of her obsessive twitching and licking.
What has been your experience with hyperesthesia and gabapentin? What would you do in my situation?
I have a very anxious kitty, Celeste, who has seemed to have developed feline hyperesthesia as of April 2021. While she is not to the point of severe self mutilation, she is running around the house away from herself for at least 40-50% of the day, tail going wild. She is obsessively and aggressively licking the tip of it as well as her hindquarters, and her skin ripples a lot. She doesn’t bleed, but she does sometimes pull hair out, though she isn’t having any bald patches or anything at this time. She also gets twitchy ears in bad episodes.
A few weeks ago she had a bad episode where she grabbed her tail in her mouth and growled very loudly. I decided to take her to the vet and told them about it, as well as my suspicion of feline hyperesthesia. They did a basic neurological test for responsiveness, checked her blood, checked her visually and her fur. All looked good. The vet recommended trying her on gabapentin which she said can be helpful in hyperesthesia. I am somewhat familiar with it as I have a boy who had a blockage that was on it during recovery. I just hate the thought of her being on long term medication. I have also tried some of Jackson Galaxy’s Scaredy Cat holistic drops, but it doesn’t seem to be helping.
This morning too, she was panting visually and nothing I could do would help bring her out of her obsessive twitching and licking.
What has been your experience with hyperesthesia and gabapentin? What would you do in my situation?