fhs
Hi.
I haven't done a proper update in awhile and I really want to change that.
Not sure where to start, so guess I'll start with an update on our cat.
It's been three years since I mentioned Faye, our cat, and in those three years she's started developing problems. We can't pinpoint exactly when it started or at what point it got worse, because it started as something pretty mundane that nearly every cat does: lick the air when you scratch their backs.
Here's a video of another cat (not ours) doing just that.
Normal stuff. But then it progressively got worse. That licking became more pronounced and aggressive and even turned into an obvious need to bite in that nibbling sort of way. Then she would do that if you barely touched her. Then she started to chew on herself. And her back would regularly twitch and the skin would roll, just while she would sit there otherwise calmly. Then she started to react to the slightest touch by digging her own claws into her back when she tried to clean her stomach. If the sleeve of your shirt would ripple just the tips of the hairs on her back, it would set her off. She twists around, latches into her back, and goes so completely rigid that she'll then fall off of whatever she's laying on and land - with a loud thud - on her back. Sometimes she'll even pee all over herself. Over the past year, these fits have gotten a little worse each time. We've seen her pull her own hair out and, after some of the worst fits, come home to random spots of blood and have even seen her take a huge bite of her own skin and just pull. It has been horrifying to watch. In January, she was sitting on Chris' lap when she had a reaction and he was trying to move her and put his hand in the wrong spot... I could actually hear his skin rip as he managed to get her teeth out of his hand. He had to get a tetanus shot and go on antibiotics. I can't even count how many times I've been scratched and once even had her claws dig into my leg, all the way to the quick.
Our poor, sweet kitty has been involuntarily hurting herself and sometimes us from these horrible reactions and fits. Otherwise? She's still just as sweet and affectionate and good tempered as usual. She just has problems. I haven't even been able to pick her up and snuggle with her and have to be extremely careful when she sleeps on me. I try to make up for it by loving on her, around her face and neck, so she doesn't feel like we're constantly pushing her away. But it's still hard each time I have to chase her off when she starts to have a fit. It's been difficult not to be able to comfort her when she needs it most.
We haven't had the money to take her to a vet and the only thing I could do to appease my own anxiety during all of this, was research. What I finally found that fits her symptoms is something that's kind of rare called Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome, or rolling skin disease.
Also not our cat, but this is a bit like her reactions, especially the part at the end of the video:
Going by everything we've read, it's sort of the equivalent to cat Fibromyalgia. Not in terms of symptoms, but in the sense that no one seems clear on what causes it and there's no definitive test to say 'Yes, this is what you have." Some people thing it's neurological, or anxiety, or diet, and some think it's symptomatic of something worse, and some think it's a disease all its own. You truly only get to this diagnosis by doing other tests to rule everything else out first.
The November before last (2011) we finally had some money to have her checked out. I didn't mention Hyperesthesia by name - because I know some doctors/vets get turned off and become dismissive when a patient basically tries to do their job for them and acts like they know what they're talking about - but I did bring up the idea that whatever caused her mass that was removed when she was spayed might be causing this current problem. This only started after she was fixed, after all. The vet disregarded my concern and said something like that wouldn't cause something like this. (Never mind that a growth is one of the potential causes of FHS...) She said Faye has flea allergies, gave her a steroid/cortisone shot, and sent us on our way.
[I should add that Romeo has flea allergies, too. During that previous summer we had both of them on full rounds of flea meds, - from Romie's vet, not OTC - for three months straight and she wasn't even the tiniest bit better.]
For about one month, I had my Faye back! For the most part. She was still twitchy and would have the occasional fit and you couldn't touch her back without causing a reaction, but she could lay on me! She was even sometimes able to lay on her back and roll over and be super adorable! It was the sweetest thing ever!
Then the steroids wore off. And we were back where we started. Including not having money to take her back to the vet.
I now know, after seeing some comments from other cat owners dealing with this, that I probably should have brought up FHS - many people have said their vets hadn't even heard about it and they mentioned it, so they were then able to research and help them properly. But we decided when we finally got some money that we were going to take her elsewhere. We brought her in to look at her incredibly sensitive back, she had a rough time reacting to being poked and prodded along the spine, and so you give her a few very un-gentle pats on the back, near the base of the spine?! Really?? Why don't I break your nose then proceed to flick it a few times? Bedside manner, you do not have it!
The last time we took Romie in for his shots and such, I asked his vet if he was familiar with FHS. They gave me a kind of wide-eyed 'No' then immediately gave me the info for another place in town. The Cat Clinic. I've had that information posted on the refrigerator for months.
Thanks to some weird thing at work where they paid Chris a great deal less than he was being contracted for on an old gig, we suddenly had a surplus of money! I'm finally getting glasses soon (not only have I been wearing the same pair since high school, but they are now rubberbanded together), we might be able to get a shower working, and - most importantly - we're definitely working on getting this whole thing with Faye solved.
She had her first appointment at The Cat Clinic two weeks ago and I am already SO much happier with this vet! Immensely. They talked us through every tiny bit and are familiar with FHS. They were incredibly careful and considerate during her examination and even wanted to make sure we stayed back in case she reacted violently to being poked and prodded. She said it could range from being a severe reaction to a basic flea allergy all the way to FHS, but we of course won't know for sure until we do tests. She has a follow up next week where she'll have her shots updated and we'll make the plans for her to have a tooth extracted and get some blood work done while she's under anesthesia. The vet even gave me a list of ideas to keep Faye entertained around the house, just in case it's an anxiety thing - and made sure to point out that we can make these things and it won't cost us anything. She was also put on a really good flea medication and given a cortisone shot, which I believe she said would last two weeks.
These two weeks? I've nearly been in tears with how much difference we've seen in her. She's so much more active! She makes mad dashes through the house, back and forth, and gets all wild-eyed and frisky. She's been perkier but also more relaxed. And she's been curious and getting into things again! So much more playful now. Just the other day, we were watching something on TV and she rolled completely upside down on my lap. It has been so long that she could do this, that we both ignored the TV and Chris even pulled himself out of the chaise to come over and rub on her belly. And I've been able to let her sleep on me, near my face even, without fear of losing an appendage or having her land on Romeo in mid-fit. I've actually been able to sleep through the night! And? She hasn't peed on herself this whole time! It has been incredible. She still twitches. She's still having about one very minor fit a day, where she starts to chew on herself, but they're short-lived and not even a shadow of the violence we were seeing before. I'm dreading the day when the cortisone finally wears off and really hope the vets decides to give her another shot when we go in again on Saturday.
It's not a solution but it has offered a nice reprieve. This is just the start of the journey to get our kitty back... fingers crossed that it's not a long one and that we have the money to see it through. I'd hate to be stranded somewhere in the middle.
I haven't done a proper update in awhile and I really want to change that.
Not sure where to start, so guess I'll start with an update on our cat.
It's been three years since I mentioned Faye, our cat, and in those three years she's started developing problems. We can't pinpoint exactly when it started or at what point it got worse, because it started as something pretty mundane that nearly every cat does: lick the air when you scratch their backs.
Here's a video of another cat (not ours) doing just that.
Click to viewNormal stuff. But then it progressively got worse. That licking became more pronounced and aggressive and even turned into an obvious need to bite in that nibbling sort of way. Then she would do that if you barely touched her. Then she started to chew on herself. And her back would regularly twitch and the skin would roll, just while she would sit there otherwise calmly. Then she started to react to the slightest touch by digging her own claws into her back when she tried to clean her stomach. If the sleeve of your shirt would ripple just the tips of the hairs on her back, it would set her off. She twists around, latches into her back, and goes so completely rigid that she'll then fall off of whatever she's laying on and land - with a loud thud - on her back. Sometimes she'll even pee all over herself. Over the past year, these fits have gotten a little worse each time. We've seen her pull her own hair out and, after some of the worst fits, come home to random spots of blood and have even seen her take a huge bite of her own skin and just pull. It has been horrifying to watch. In January, she was sitting on Chris' lap when she had a reaction and he was trying to move her and put his hand in the wrong spot... I could actually hear his skin rip as he managed to get her teeth out of his hand. He had to get a tetanus shot and go on antibiotics. I can't even count how many times I've been scratched and once even had her claws dig into my leg, all the way to the quick.
Our poor, sweet kitty has been involuntarily hurting herself and sometimes us from these horrible reactions and fits. Otherwise? She's still just as sweet and affectionate and good tempered as usual. She just has problems. I haven't even been able to pick her up and snuggle with her and have to be extremely careful when she sleeps on me. I try to make up for it by loving on her, around her face and neck, so she doesn't feel like we're constantly pushing her away. But it's still hard each time I have to chase her off when she starts to have a fit. It's been difficult not to be able to comfort her when she needs it most.
We haven't had the money to take her to a vet and the only thing I could do to appease my own anxiety during all of this, was research. What I finally found that fits her symptoms is something that's kind of rare called Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome, or rolling skin disease.
Also not our cat, but this is a bit like her reactions, especially the part at the end of the video:
Going by everything we've read, it's sort of the equivalent to cat Fibromyalgia. Not in terms of symptoms, but in the sense that no one seems clear on what causes it and there's no definitive test to say 'Yes, this is what you have." Some people thing it's neurological, or anxiety, or diet, and some think it's symptomatic of something worse, and some think it's a disease all its own. You truly only get to this diagnosis by doing other tests to rule everything else out first.
The November before last (2011) we finally had some money to have her checked out. I didn't mention Hyperesthesia by name - because I know some doctors/vets get turned off and become dismissive when a patient basically tries to do their job for them and acts like they know what they're talking about - but I did bring up the idea that whatever caused her mass that was removed when she was spayed might be causing this current problem. This only started after she was fixed, after all. The vet disregarded my concern and said something like that wouldn't cause something like this. (Never mind that a growth is one of the potential causes of FHS...) She said Faye has flea allergies, gave her a steroid/cortisone shot, and sent us on our way.
[I should add that Romeo has flea allergies, too. During that previous summer we had both of them on full rounds of flea meds, - from Romie's vet, not OTC - for three months straight and she wasn't even the tiniest bit better.]
For about one month, I had my Faye back! For the most part. She was still twitchy and would have the occasional fit and you couldn't touch her back without causing a reaction, but she could lay on me! She was even sometimes able to lay on her back and roll over and be super adorable! It was the sweetest thing ever!
Then the steroids wore off. And we were back where we started. Including not having money to take her back to the vet.
I now know, after seeing some comments from other cat owners dealing with this, that I probably should have brought up FHS - many people have said their vets hadn't even heard about it and they mentioned it, so they were then able to research and help them properly. But we decided when we finally got some money that we were going to take her elsewhere. We brought her in to look at her incredibly sensitive back, she had a rough time reacting to being poked and prodded along the spine, and so you give her a few very un-gentle pats on the back, near the base of the spine?! Really?? Why don't I break your nose then proceed to flick it a few times? Bedside manner, you do not have it!
The last time we took Romie in for his shots and such, I asked his vet if he was familiar with FHS. They gave me a kind of wide-eyed 'No' then immediately gave me the info for another place in town. The Cat Clinic. I've had that information posted on the refrigerator for months.
Thanks to some weird thing at work where they paid Chris a great deal less than he was being contracted for on an old gig, we suddenly had a surplus of money! I'm finally getting glasses soon (not only have I been wearing the same pair since high school, but they are now rubberbanded together), we might be able to get a shower working, and - most importantly - we're definitely working on getting this whole thing with Faye solved.
She had her first appointment at The Cat Clinic two weeks ago and I am already SO much happier with this vet! Immensely. They talked us through every tiny bit and are familiar with FHS. They were incredibly careful and considerate during her examination and even wanted to make sure we stayed back in case she reacted violently to being poked and prodded. She said it could range from being a severe reaction to a basic flea allergy all the way to FHS, but we of course won't know for sure until we do tests. She has a follow up next week where she'll have her shots updated and we'll make the plans for her to have a tooth extracted and get some blood work done while she's under anesthesia. The vet even gave me a list of ideas to keep Faye entertained around the house, just in case it's an anxiety thing - and made sure to point out that we can make these things and it won't cost us anything. She was also put on a really good flea medication and given a cortisone shot, which I believe she said would last two weeks.
These two weeks? I've nearly been in tears with how much difference we've seen in her. She's so much more active! She makes mad dashes through the house, back and forth, and gets all wild-eyed and frisky. She's been perkier but also more relaxed. And she's been curious and getting into things again! So much more playful now. Just the other day, we were watching something on TV and she rolled completely upside down on my lap. It has been so long that she could do this, that we both ignored the TV and Chris even pulled himself out of the chaise to come over and rub on her belly. And I've been able to let her sleep on me, near my face even, without fear of losing an appendage or having her land on Romeo in mid-fit. I've actually been able to sleep through the night! And? She hasn't peed on herself this whole time! It has been incredible. She still twitches. She's still having about one very minor fit a day, where she starts to chew on herself, but they're short-lived and not even a shadow of the violence we were seeing before. I'm dreading the day when the cortisone finally wears off and really hope the vets decides to give her another shot when we go in again on Saturday.
It's not a solution but it has offered a nice reprieve. This is just the start of the journey to get our kitty back... fingers crossed that it's not a long one and that we have the money to see it through. I'd hate to be stranded somewhere in the middle.