Mari --
So nice to know you're still lurking (like me!)...
I don't think this is what Siggie has, because he isn't mutilating
himself. He just starts licking me and won't stop until I literally have
to push him away a few times. All the other things you described, he
does. BUT, I don't think it's hyperethesia because with 4 cats in close
quarters like I have, they get all get nutty from time to time.
=^..^= Terri, Salome', Siggie the Tomato Vampire, Guinevere, Sammi, and 5
furangels: RuthieGirl, Samantha, Arielle, Gareth and Alec =^..^=
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 11:49
AM
Subject: Feline Hyperethesia (Long Sorry)
was: Re: OT/OCD-Kerry & Barb
Hi. This is Spirit Cat (mari). I've been a member
of the list for
three or four years but don't post much anymore. But
I read all the
posts. We have had leuk positives (and negatives) for
over 20 years,
but in the past few years we have also been giving a forever
home to
those with other special needs.
When I saw the posts on OCD
I got started following this thread
closely because two of our more recent
family members have exhibited
"strange" symptoms very close to what is
being described. We have
conferred with our vet and he has diagnosed
feline hyperethesia which
is fairly common.
It is a condition that
manefests itself in "destruction" of a body
part, most commonly the tail or
rear flank. One of our two boys (one
we are sure has it the other we
are watching closely as he is just
exhibiting the first classic signs) has
chosen his foot as his object
of choice.
Some research links the
condition to feline epilepsy (another
condition that is thought to be very
uncommon in cats and currently we
have three grand mal seizure epileptics
and one cluster seizure cat).
Because of the destruction issue the illness
is often called
mutilation disease. Classic symptoms are "rippling of
the back" when
they are given full body pets. They will often be
found to be staring
off into space for long periods of time totally unaware
of the things
going on around them. Then they will take off like they
are being
chased by demons. It is characterized by truly
obsessive
licking/washing of a particular body part - often to the point
of
baldness and skin sores. They will choose a part of the body and
will
literally destroy it. Chew off the end of their tail to the
point
that care givers have had to have the tail removed.
Our
confirmed boy has chosen his foot. When we took him literally
from
the arms of someone who was dropping him off to "find a good
home" we knew
he would just continue to the back as at the time he was
five weeks old and
rear paralyzed. He was very malnourished and vet
could find nothing
really wrong with him. We put him on high quality
food and vitamin
supplements and within a few days he was able to get
up and use his back
legs. He did still exhibit this sort of "short
circuiting" of the
nerves when he would jump on things but it didn't
slow him
down.
However, one day he jumped and got his rear foot caught in the
bars of
one of the cages and it made a little sore. We started
treating it
but the next morning the foot was swollen to three times its
normal
size. We took him to the vet who said that he had torn the
outside
toe away from the foot and it would need to be removed but we had
to
get the swelling down first and gave us antibiotics and a
surface
spray. In actuality we now know HE had done more damage to
the foot
by chewing it.
The swelling started to go down and I made
his surgery appointment.
However, we didn't need to keep it because on the
morning of surgery I
looked at his foot and he had removed the toe
himself. It healed and
we thought everything was fine until a month
or so again when it
looked as if he had injured another toe on the same
foot. However,
after conferring with our vet and doing research on
our own, we know
that he is doing it himself. So now Junior takes
phenobarbitol which
is the drug of choice for controlling this
condition. Other drugs
often prescribed with more side effects are
valium, zoloft, etc.
Thankfully, right now the phenobarb is working and
the foot is healing
and he has stopped worrying with it.
It is my
recommendation that if you suspect that your babies may have
this condition
that you make an appointment with your vet to discuss
it. When I was
doing my research I came across several stories where
caregivers had come
home to blood spattered walls and cats who had
mutilated
themselves.
My research indicates that this may be a "form" of epilepsy
or it may
be stressed induced or that they just aren't sure.
Recommendations
are to schedule several very active play sessions so that
they can
work off excess energy and we have found that this does help
Junior (a
member of a large multicat family). Also it is suggested to
not do
full body pets something that all of ours get as as we use that
to
check for changes in their bodies. However, by petting them all
the
way down the back to the tail it causes their skin to ripple and
seems
to set the condition in motion and they go after their body part
of
choice.
I know none of us want our babies on any more medication
than
necessary, but it has helped Junior immensely to be on phenobarb
just
these few short days. We are comfortable with phenobarb as we
use it
for our grand mal epileptic cats and our dog who has also been on
it
for grand mals for over ten years.
Sorry this is so long and I am
sure I have left out something I meant
to say, but when I saw these
postings I had to write because we are
currently dealing with this
situation and in over 40 years of caring
for all kinds of disabilities I
had never run into this situation to
this
extreme.
/mari
