Hyperesthesia: Gabapentin or not?

[ramscici]

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?

 

[fionasmom]

My Chelsea had FSH, also diagnosed by the vet. I did not use any meds with her as it was not as severe as you are describing with your cat. She had episodes of not recognizing her tail, or me, running in circles after the tail with big dark eyes glowing, but I would not have put her into the obsessive category. I could not touch her during the episodes, but had to use a pillow or some soft object to help her to stop the tail chase. She developed intestinal lymphoma ( no connection to FSH, so don't worry about that) and for some reason the episodes declined.

Personally, I agree with those who think that FSH is a seizure disorder, but there is debate about it.

You have to do what you think is best for your cat, but personally I would try the gabapentin. You may find that you don't need a huge amount to keep her calmer and happier. Gabapentin is as much a sedative as a pain killer, according to my cat vet, and you might only need a small amount to calm her as you are not trying to relieve pain. Discuss with the vet the fact that you don't want a knocked out cat and are concerned about that aspect of using it.

 

[fionasmom]

This thread was just updated a few minutes ago. Owner is giving gabapentin to her cat for FSH.

(Suspected) Feline Hyperesthesia

 

[ramscici]

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 over the course of my childhood, and none of them ever had this issue nor had I ever heard of it until now. I agree, I think it does seem like a seizure disorder just because of how severe and involuntary the episodes seem to be. I hope as time goes on we get more answers.

 

[ramscici]

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.

 

[ramscici]

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 divert the behavior by blocking her access to the tail with my arm, but this time she would just stare blankly and not calm down. She attacked it the moment she could see it. In the early morning hours she got up and started crying, acting very odd, circling the house. I tried to feed her, she acted like she wanted food because she would rub on me a little bit, but her tail was going wild and she ultimately could not eat because she was way too distracted by it.

I ended up taking her to an emergency clinic because her regular vet couldn’t see her today as they were full. The vet was very sweet and lovely and cleaned her up, wrapped her tail, gave her some methadone for pain and gave her a soft e collar. She wanted to do the hard one out of fear that Celeste would be able to get to her tail anyway, but unfortunately she would not tolerate it and started flipping out, rolling over, etc. so we went with the smaller one. She sent us home with some gabapentin (50mg) and I was able to give it to her in a pill pocket treat, which she ate when we got home. She still won’t eat though because I tried to take the collar off solely to let her eat and she went right back for her tail. She is laying with me now, blankly, still breathing hard and clearly very nervous. I don’t know how much pain she is still in but she clearly is still having anxiety. The gabapentin seems to have made her sleepy but she’s still trying to go for her tail and overgroom, although this could be from the anxiety due to the pain.

She will need to wear the cone for a week and I will remove the bandages on her tail in three days. I’m mostly concerned about her getting food now. I know Celeste and when she has severe anxiety, she shuts down and just doesn’t eat. She has had a few treats and a small amount of dry food today, but other than that won’t eat.

 

[ramscici]

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

 

[fionasmom]

Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

The above are suggestions for getting Celeste to eat something appetizing. I am sorry that you have had such a run of this; her case is much more extreme than Chelsea, who could be diverted with a physical interruption to the obsessive behavior. At this point, give the gabapentin a chance, and give the tail a chance to heal. Sometimes with gabapentin, there is an adjustment period after which Celeste might be less groggy. Dosage is very important and the vet has to work on that with you. As I said in the other thread, my GSD was on it for years, cautiously controlled by his vet, and it only enhanced his life, never really knocked him out, even with kidney disease which prevents all drugs of that class from clearing the body quickly. Celeste does not have kidney issues, does she?

Given that she has an injured tail, which IMO does make something like gabapentin necessary, and is now on the new meds, she may start to eat when she has adjusted. Having said that, don't give serious not eating more than a couple of days before you call the vet. Can you syringe feed her in the meantime?

 

[ramscici]

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 came back to sleep so I put some soothing music on and am just going to stay beside her for most of the night. Gabapentin every 8 hours or so. Here’s hoping she just sleeps off the worse of this, continues to eat and take her medicine, and the gabapentin does the trick for her hyperesthesia. I’ll keep everyone updated just in case anyone else has the same or a similar problem.

ETA: Celeste doesn’t have kidney disease, she’s also quite young (4 years old) and otherwise healthy. She does have food allergies but we manage it by feeding mostly raw, single protein food (Darwin’s) and some Tiki Cat when we forget to unfreeze the Darwin’s. We also feed dry very seldom, sometimes it’s the only thing she will eat though, like this morning. As long as she keeps something in her tummy, I’m happy.

 

[Lulu&Finn]

I know I sound like a broken record but Lulu had all of these symptoms and it was a fish allergy. She no longer does this as long as she doesn't have fish.

 

[ramscici]

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 figured out that her allergy was very likely guar gum, as those were the foods she would get severe breakouts from eating. Since I switched her to Darwin’s raw and (occasional) Tiki Cat and Tiki Cat After Dark (no gums), she has done well and not had any lesions since. However, this rolling skin hyperesthesia started presenting about a year ago and has escalated within the past couple of months to self mutilation. I’m going to stop giving her the Jackson Galaxy holistic drops because I did notice the last ingredient in it is the scarlet runner bean, which is a legume and related to the guar bean. What’s odd though is that she also does fine on dry food- I have fed Wellness RawRev and Orijen (which has chickpeas and lentils) and she doesn’t get any breakouts.

A part of me does wonder if it is another allergy I’m missing that’s triggering the hyperestheisa especially given her history of sensitivity.

Fron everything I’ve heard about allergy tests they are not very reliable for felines. But I wish there was a way I could get one for her. How did you figure out it was fish for Lulu?

 

[ramscici]

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 took off her collar when she eats and for a few moments today (while I supervised) both to let her groom herself a bit and see if she tries to go for her tail with gabapentin in her system. I have noticed her rolling skin has significantly decreased, as has her tail twitching. She doesn’t run away from herself at all. However, when I take the collar off and she catches sight of her tail, she fixates again and tries to go at it. This is a bit discouraging because it seems like that indicates behavioral / neurological which may be harder to treat. I’m hopeful that it may just be because the tail is bandaged and looks strange to her.

 

[Lulu&Finn]

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 figured out that her allergy was very likely guar gum, as those were the foods she would get severe breakouts from eating. Since I switched her to Darwin’s raw and (occasional) Tiki Cat and Tiki Cat After Dark (no gums), she has done well and not had any lesions since. However, this rolling skin hyperesthesia started presenting about a year ago and has escalated within the past couple of months to self mutilation. I’m going to stop giving her the Jackson Galaxy holistic drops because I did notice the last ingredient in it is the scarlet runner bean, which is a legume and related to the guar bean. What’s odd though is that she also does fine on dry food- I have fed Wellness RawRev and Orijen (which has chickpeas and lentils) and she doesn’t get any breakouts.

A part of me does wonder if it is another allergy I’m missing that’s triggering the hyperestheisa especially given her history of sensitivity.

Fron everything I’ve heard about allergy tests they are not very reliable for felines. But I wish there was a way I could get one for her. How did you figure out it was fish for Lulu?

I've never had allergy testing done. I was so happy it stopped once the fish was eliminated. I talked to the vet about my suspicion and she agreed that could be it and we would watch to see. It's been about a year and a half I think.

 

[ramscici]

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. What I’m noticing is that Celeste seems to still be going for her tail at times of grooming (she can’t reach it with the e collar though), but she doesn’t really run away from herself anymore with the collar and gabapentin. It’s only when she can see the tail that she fixates. But the fact that she has moments of trying to groom intensely as she was doing before seems strange. The major plus of gabapentin and the collar seems to be less anxiety and no rolling skin, but she’s still trying to get at her tail sometimes. I just don’t get it.

 

[fionasmom]

I am glad that you are seeing some improvement. As I said, or I think I said, my GSD was on gabapentin for a long time and it absolutely did not change his personality. What kind of e collar is Celeste using? There are options of other designs and materials which might be more comfortable. Give this some time, keep an anecdotal log if you think it would help.
These Elizabethan Cat Collars Will Change Your Kitty’s Recovery Game

 

[ramscici]

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 because she wouldn’t tolerate that one. She’s doing fine on it other than getting stuck sometimes, but I’m helping her. Once it can come off in a week, I’m going to give a calming collar a try, and maybe an anxiety suit, because I noticed that Celeste actually is tactile and reacts well to being touched or comforted during episodes. Usually me wrapping my hand around her, or pulling her attention away from her tail, is enough to stop her fixating on her tail. The problem is just that when I’m working I can’t pay attention to her all day.

 

[fionasmom]

I think that you are on the right track and hopefully this start to straighten itself out as Celeste adjusts to the meds and gets out of the collar. Gabapentin will increase sleepiness, but that is also dose dependent, but it never changed my dog's personality. In fact, I think that it improved the quality of his life.

 

[ramscici]

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 and ripped it off herself. Because it was stuck to her scab, it pulled the scab with it and her tail started bleeding again. We rewrapped, much more loosely this time, so that it will be easier to remove and won’t stick to the scab next time. It’s so frustrating though because now I have to wait another three days for it to scab over again. Tail wounds are the worst.

 

[fionasmom]

I am sorry that you had this happen. Believe me, I have been there. For some reason, all wrappings and bandaging by the vet seem so difficult to remove, so don't think that you did not have the right technique. Do the best you can from here and there should be some improvement in the next three days.

 

[Elvisrocks]

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 and ripped it off herself. Because it was stuck to her scab, it pulled the scab with it and her tail started bleeding again. We rewrapped, much more loosely this time, so that it will be easier to remove and won’t stick to the scab next time. It’s so frustrating though because now I have to wait another three days for it to scab over again. Tail wounds are the worst.

My cat has fhs although she doesn't tail chase. There are two wonderful Facebook groups I joined of people with cats that have this disorder. If you are on facebook it's called feline hyperesthesia support group and feline hyperesthesia syndrome group. They give wonderful suggestions and know a ton about meds. I got most of my info from there and took suggestions to my vet because he hasnt seen much fhs. My kitty is on gabapentin 50mg twice daily which is a low dose but hers is mild. She is also on amitriptylline for anxiety. I have learned alot of these cats are on ssri meds if they chase their tails and always on epileptic meds like gabapentin because they think it's seizure related. I would definitely look into these groups as they are experts. Most know more than some vets because some vets haven't dealt much with fhs. You are lucky if your vet has dealt with it. As far as gabapentin my kitty was very sleepy for several weeks but once she adjusted it went away. I wish you the best. It's a tough disorder bur can be managed with the right neds and a vet who listens and takes it seriously.