My cat - yes overweight. I've fought that for 16 years.
Introduction
I think that my cat may have a very mild form of Feline Hyperesthesia but I can't find anything on it in any of the reference books I use. Clearly this condition is not well known or veterinarians and physicians don't know that much about it. I have had to rely on the Internet exclusively for the answer, which I don't normally do as the information can sometimes be less than completely reliable.
My cat's skin on her back ripples when I talk to her (very gently always) and when I touch her lower back. The skin also twitches sometimes when touched towards the lower end of her back. I don't know if this is a disease. It has only started to happen over the last 6 months or so as far as far as I can tell. She has no fleas or mites etc.. She is on the face of it in good health and I am with her all the time. She is groomed 4 times daily. She is overweight. This is mainly because she is nervous and defensive so is more static. The nervousness may give the clue as anxiety may be a factor in the cause of this disease.
The disease - the symptoms
Anyway back to Feline Hyperesthesia. The word "esthesia" means the capacity for sensation and feeling (Mirriam Webster's Medical Dictionary). Hyper in medical terms means above normal or excessive (Medterms). That should tell us that the disease is a condition under which the cat feels sensations to an excessive degree. But is this what it actually is? The disease is also known as "rolling skin syndrome", rippling skin disorder" or "twitchy cat disease" and there may be an overlap with feline psychogenic alopecia (www.cathealth.com) (see Feline Endocrine Alopecia - a behavioral problem more than a hormone problem, it is thought).
Full blown Feline Hyperesthesia is more than a heightened sensitivity. The symptoms include:
--biting the tip of the tail or attacking the tail
--sensitivity to touching
--dilated pupils
--twitching of the tail
--running around wildly
--symptoms can look like epileptic fits
--rippling skin as mentioned above
--looks like crazy behavior but cat is distressed
--loud meowing
My cat having a nice time in the garden. She is a tuxedo cat. In the top picture she is looking anxiously upwards at the balcony of a flat above. This is testament to her underlying nervousness. If anyone wants to use the photo feel free to do so and if you give a link back to this website that would be nice.
The Causes
The causes of Feline Hyperesthesia are, it seems, simply unknown or there may be a number of possible causes. Some think it might be due to low grade food. Well that can be eliminated fairly easily and tested. Mind you high grade cat food is hard to come by. The better answer perhaps is that it is caused by an underlying health problem or behavior related which will need careful diagnosis based on blood and neurological tests. Possible causes are:
--toxins such as flea treatments or something eaten
--itching due for example to parasitic allergies may be confused with this condition
--brain disease such as brain tumor or infection
--a diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids and lacking vitamin E caused by feeding our cats with an unbalanced diet of say red tuna. This would be an unbalanced home made diet that may cause a disease called Yellow Fat Disease.
--over vaccinating
As for my cat if she has a very mid form of Feline Hyperesthesia it might be caused by behavioral problems due to her nervousness (or at least this may be an underlying condition that contributes). She was an abandoned stray cat that I found in London near to where I lived. I believe she had a difficult early life that made her nervous. In other words she is emotionally a little disturbed, she occasionally has nightmares and cries out and wakes up.
So my theory is that this condition is a bit like Feline Endocrine Alopecia which is also probably more likely to be due to over grooming and over grooming is caused by behavioral difficulties due to anxiety and stress for example. The stress need not necessarily originate in the owner but may be underlying as for my cat or perhaps the introduction of a new cat into the household may cause it and sometimes our anxiety about it may exacerbate the Feline Hyperesthesia.
One last thing: this condition may occur more frequently in Siamese cats.
Feline Hyperesthesia to Cat Health Problems
Feline Hyperesthesia - Sources as stated in the text and:
- www.thecatsite.com
- http://cats.about.com
Photos are by me and free for use by anyone but I'd appreciate a link to this website (if possible) and a credit (Michael at Pictures of Cats.org)
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She is a champion cat. Not surprising. Photo copyright Helmi Flick - please respect copyright.
5 comments:
I am so glad I read your information about the rippling skin disorder. I have a Blue Russian and she has had these symptoms at times and now her symptoms have gotten progresseively worse. Thankyou for giving me some insight on her problem. I now know I am not alone.
Hi, thanks for the comment. I'm pleased it helped a bit.
In the past few weeks, just as she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, my cat has begun attacking her "image" in the mirror, including loud meowing, blown-out tail, smacking at the mirror.I covered the mirror and now she has responded to her image in the glass of a hutch and, as of yesterday, in the bathroom mirror. We think this may be part of rippling skin sensation, something my vet proposed. I read about the behavior, which fits my cat all too well. Anyone else whose cat presents with this sort of aggression before a mirror and that has this skin/neurological disorder?
I've had a cat 'family' all my life (30 years now) and all of them, including the cat I've inherited from my husband's house has had this rippling skin and sensitivity when touched near their back end. There's been no aggression, self harm or loud meowing, but they've all been like that at some time or another. The running around and dilated pupils was only evident in one of our cats, but we suspected her sweet tooth was being pandered to by an old lady across the road and put it down to too much sugar. I called her Candy as a kitten. I must've known because you could safely leave a roast chicken in-front of her, but never a doughnut!
Thanks for the info, I was wondering what the heck was wrong with my cat - apparently she has a mild form and does not chew at her fur or overgroom. She is fed the best of foods. So I dont know what could have triggered this off, she is a 1 1/2 yr old Japanese bobtail-female. Shes not nervous and she was purchased from a reputable breeder. So go figure on this one.
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