Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome

[Bonkers]

   I would like to add to this by saying that many times food allegies can also be a major factor in causing feline hyperthesia.

[Perseus]

I also experienced feline hyperesthesia earlier this year with one of my cats.  We had just lost our two girls within about 30 days of each other, one was 20.5 years old and the other was 18.5 years old.  I think the stress of missing his two playmates was just too much for him, and for about 6 weeks on and off he had the typical symptoms of this condition.  It may have been an allergy to his food, but I think it was coincidental to the girls passing on.  After about six weeks it stopped and hasn't returned now for about 4 months.

At first I did think it was an allergy to his food, as we feed him a raw diet with different sources of chicken and it seemed like he had the symptoms appear when he ate the chicken as opposed to the turkey, hen or duck.  So it may have been the chicken raw food batch at the time.

So hard to determine what the cause is with this condition because food allergy and stress can both cause it.  He hasn't had it return for some time though so hopefully he's over it now!

[Bonkers]

   I must add that my Jasper has now resorted to "fur mowing". It all started when our son moved back home a few months ago. But I also believe that he has developed an allergy to the turkey raw food that he has been eating exclusively for almost 2 years as he once again has the rippling fur also. From what I have read about FHS is that the most extreme cases are those where the kitty seems to hallucinate and attack their tail, sometimes they go as far as to even biting it off. Luckily Jasper has never experienced these symptoms. So I am now doing various food trials to see if I can once again find him some relief. This is a great article on Fur Mowing for those who would like more info. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/feline_fur-mowing.html

[Bonkers]

  For those who may not be familiar with what a cat experiences when suffering from a bout of FHS, there are numerous videos depicting cats with symptoms on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTbH9H2j5Ds&feature=related