# Help!! Muscle Spasm & Twitching in Cat



## Adventure_Me (Jan 27, 2013)

Hi everyone,

I am in tears right now, my 4 1/2 yr old cat is getting muscle spasms and twitching that is causing her hind leg to jerk. I started to notice this last Wednesday evening after coming home from work but it was not that bad at this point and thought it may have been caused by her falling down from somewhere in the apartment as she is always jumping up high onto things. However on Thursday evening I knew something was definitely wrong as she was beside herself running around constantly trying to lick the area on her back where her muscle was twitching and once again she was jerking her hind leg I guess in order to try to shake out the spasm/twitching. This would not stop throughout the night and she was going bonkers not being able to sit still. The only thing I could think of that may be causing this is a new duvet cover that I bought and put on the bed on Sunday which I did not wash first (I know stupid me). It was a deep purple colour that I'm certain had chemicals used to dye it that were still in the material. I threw out the duvet cover. When I took her to the vet they had to put her under full anesthesia as my cat does not like to be handled and gets very aggressive (hissing and growling) yes she' has an attitude to boot! They took a blood and urine sample and did a check-up. They suggested putting her on Prozac but I was not comfortable with this and declined. Vet called me yesterday to say the blood work shows she was dehydrated and showed a slight elevation of liver enzymes which could be from the cat not having food for 12 hours due to having to fully sedate. The vet suggested I come back in a month for another blood test and possibly further tests. The bill for the sedation, blood work and check-up was $420 - I am on a single income and live alone so it's really hard for me to once again pay another $420 & up in another month. Don't get me wrong I love my baby girl with all my heart and would do anything for her and will pay whatever needs to be paid but it's very stressful and I'm scared. When we got home from the vet on Friday she was really out of it and just really sat around looking very dazed and confused. Saturday she seemed better and was running around the apartment jumping up on the window ledge but later in the early evening and on, she was just lying around a lot. She was eating, drinking water and I did not notice anything else wrong. She even slept on the foot on my bed throughout the night. Today however, she was fine through the morning but then she went out into the hallway outside the apartment as she does every day to run down the hall and smell the scents outside the neighbours doors and when she came back into the apartment not even 10 minutes went by and she was once again twitching and running around shaking her hind leg and trying to lick the spot on her back where she was having the muscle spasm. I grabbed some cat wipes and massaged her paws and back with them and she seemed to be fine after this. It's been a few hours now and she seems okay and is playing with her toys. Gawd this is driving me crazy trying to figure out what is going on. Has anyone experienced this with their cat? I did some research on the Internet and one of the symptoms of poisoning in cats is muscle twitching/spasm and change in behaviour (anxiety). There are other symptoms but it depends on the cause of the poisoning. I feel awful to think I may have poisoned my cat by not washing the bedding first. Please if anyone has any advise or suggestions on what I can do or something I can buy to maybe spray or rub on her for relief if this happens again, I would be very grateful. Thank you.


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

It probably has nothing to do with the bedding. I wouldn't let her go out in the hallway. Especially if you aren't watching her. One of your neighbors may have put something on her. I don't know. Sounds weird to me. But if I was your neighbor, I wouldn't like your cat running around my place either. She may be marking and overall being un neighborly. She also may be getting aggrivated if there are stray cats outside. Have u checked her for fleas? She could be allergic to flea bites. Only time will tell. But I definitely would keep hee inside


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## emilyatl (Sep 9, 2013)

It sounds kind of like hyperesthesia. Does her back kind of ripple/roll in a certain spot causing the leg to twitch, or does it seem to be starting with her leg? There are a lot of things that can cause this sort of twitching/spasm. It could be anxiety, allergies, poisoning, or various other medical conditions. Are there any changes in the house (new cats, new people, someone left, etc.) that could be causing anxiety? What kind of food does she eat? Has anything changed in her diet lately?


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## Adventure_Me (Jan 27, 2013)

Emilyat - yes I can actually see the spot on her back ripple where she is having the spasm, where the muscle is pulling. The leg shaking is right after this and is only on the one leg where the side of the spasm is happening. The are no other changes in the apartment no change in litter or food and I rarely have anyone over - it's been about a month since anyone has been inside my place. I have always fed her Almo Nature cat food - she's a very picky eater and will usually only eat the Atlantic tuna, chicken, and chicken and shrimp flavours. I also feed her the freeze dried lamb and chicken by Feline Natural that you mix with a bit of water. She does not like meat at all. I've tried every different kind of food, Wellness/Blue Buffalo/Halo and even holistic brands but she will not eat them. Her dry food is a Canadian brand called Now which I've heard is a good quality cat food. I've tried other more expensive ones but they contain too high protein and my cat will not eat them. She does not have any fleas or parasites as the vet confirmed. 

3gatos - Other stray cats? I live in an apartment building not a house. As for the running out in the hallway, are you kidding me? You think my neighbours are not happy with this and that she is not being watched when out in the hallway? All of the six other tenants on my floor have cats and have met mine and love her. I have my front door open and stand in the doorway while she boots around for a few minutes and then runs back inside. The lady next door to me actually is a foster mom for cats from the shelter and always wants to see my cat. My cat rarely ever sees anyone when she is in the hall because she just runs out for a few minutes, hears a noise and then runs back inside. Also she is an indoor cat and only goes on the balcony.


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## emilyatl (Sep 9, 2013)

It does sound like Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome to me. Is she by chance Siamese? It's more common in Siamese cats and a few other purebreds. It's one of those conditions where there isn't really a known cause, but it's thought to be behavioral/stress-related (it can also be caused by a flea allergy - but it sounds like that's been ruled out). It also sounds like her diet is good. So the easiest thing to start with would be to try reducing stress. There are a lot of natural remedies you can give your cat. Feliway is a pheromone based product that comes in a spray/diffuser. I have one in my bedroom where one of my stressed kitties stays and it seems to calm him down. You can also give her an oral remedy called Bach "rescue remedy". It could be that she's getting stressed out from the foster kitties next door? It's really hard to tell with cats what the cause of their anxiety is. You could try keeping her isolated in your room, for instance. I also find that catnip is a good stress reliever for one of my cats (the other doesn't seem to respond to it at all). 

I'd definitely ask your vet what he/she thinks about hyperesthesia and if that could be your cat's problem. Many vets may want to prescribe an anti-anxiety medication, but I'd only do that as a very last resort.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

From your description, I would also suspect a flea allergy. If a cat is severely allergic to fleas, all it takes is a single bite to set off a strong allergic response. Since there are a number of cats in your apartment complex, there's also a strong probability of fleas in the building. They could be coming into your apartment on your own clothing, or your cat might be picking up a flea or two in the hall and bringing them back into the apartment with her. It's entirely possible that she had this response immediately after a flea bite, but that the flea jumped off her body before you got her to the vet. This could also explain why she felt fine after you used a cat wipe on her. You may have wiped off the flea. Fleas actually spend a minimal proportion of their lives on animals bodies. They spend most of their life cycles OFF of animals.

In any event, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to buy a flea treatment for your girl than it is to spend another $400+ at the vet for additional testing. With any luck at all, it'll take care of the problem. Make sure you buy ONLY a vet-recommended flea product like Advantage or Frontline, however. Many of the flea products available in retail stores are highly toxic and have been implicated in the serious illnesses and/or deaths of countless cats and dogs.

Laurie


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## Adventure_Me (Jan 27, 2013)

Thank you for all the information I really appreciate it. As for the fleas, the vet ruled it out after examining her. I know there are a lot of bugs that come into the apartment through the window/screen openings and my cat being on the balcony mainly on "bug patrol" - she loves chasing them around and does at times eat them. I've noticed quite a few dead flies on the floor inside my place. The heat is one in the apartment and the bugs are trying to get inside to warm up lol. Oh and by the way, my cat is not Siamese 

Laurief - you made an excellent point about bugs out in the hallway and perhaps all the different cats my next door neighbour fosters over the course of the year could also be playing a role here I'm not sure. I will not let my cat out in the hall again unless of course she runs out before I can stop her. Also, at times it's out of my control because the building superintendent has to come into my place at times. I notice also the doors have quite a bit of space underneath them so bugs can easily get in and we get mail delivered through our mail slots in the door so maybe something has gotten in that way as well. We also have monthly fire alarm testing which can be very loud coming through the speaker in the apartment which could be adding stress. Actually they did testing last Wednesday but my neighbour said it was not too loud and only went off a twice. I just hope there is not going to be any issues with the elevated liver enzymes that were revealed in the blood work. I am going to look over the results that were just sent to me and see if I can figure them out lol. 

The vet did also mention Feliway which I am going to look into. My cat overreacts to everything and is always running to the door and pops up out of her sleep when she hears noise outside in the hallway - she's my guard cat. I can't have people over much to my place though because she starts to growl and hiss and will even swat. This behaviour started the day after I had her fixed at the same vet clinic. Once again, thank you for all your suggestions and advise - it's such a nice feeling to know there are people who really care about your babies.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I know that you said that the vet ruled out fleas. I assume that's because the vet didn't see any fleas or flea dirt on her when he examined her. But that doesn't necessarily mean that she isn't getting flea bites on her at home. As I said, fleas do not spend a lot of time actually ON the animal. They spend most of their life cycle in grass or on carpets. At the risk of repeating myself (and boring everyone in the process), I will again recommend that you buy some Advantage or Frontline and treat your cat for fleas, just in case.

With your cat being as sensitive to sound as she is, it's likely that the fire alarms and other apartment building noises are keeping her on edge a lot or all of the time. That sort of constant stress can certainly oversensitize a cat's system. It could be that she has hyperesthesia that is being exacerbated by sudden noises.

Laurie


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## emilyatl (Sep 9, 2013)

I had a kitty years ago who would have really severe episodes like you described - but she would take it to the extreme and start biting/pulling out her hair, but it wasn't just like she was over grooming. It was really scary because she seemed so upset by it and would cry sometimes. The first vet I went to thought it was neurological and wanted to get a CT scan (which I thought was really extreme for a first time visit) because he was pretty dismissive of other options. I got a second opinion and that vet thought it could be allergies or behavioral, so did an allergy skin test, which found nothing. But that didn't rule out food allergies, so she had me put her on a hypo-allergenic food. Eventually, she diagnosed her with hyperesthesia. She was very sensitive to noise (would flip out from loud noises on TV, someone making noise in an apartment below, the doorbell, etc.). I ended up using homeopathic remedies, getting her on a very strict eating and play schedule, etc. and that did help a little. Completely unreleated, a stray cat showed up on my doorstep and I was prepared to find a home for him, but he got along so well with my cat (from the start they bonded immediately), so I ended up keeping him. I don't know if it was the companionship, security of having him there while I was gone, or what, but her hyperesthesia completely went away. I'm defintiely not saying you should get another cat (that could exacerbate it), but it can be difficult to find the trigger/underlying issue. I'd start keeping a log of her episodes to see if you can pinpoint a time/event that could be causing it. 

As Laurie mentioned, I'd definitely get her on a flea preventative if she isn't already (fleas can cause a number of issues, allergies just being one of them)...


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

I live in apartment buildings as well. There.can be stray cats that come to visit spray, etc. I do not know your situation just throwing things out there. Was just a suggestion because it sounds like letting her out is aggravating the problem


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