Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome

The Feline hyperesthesia syndrome - also known as running fits or Rolling Skin Syndrome known - is a very rare neurological disorder of unknown cause cats. It is viewed as a special form of epilepsy .

The disease manifests itself through hypersensitivity ( hyperesthesia ) of the back muscles and the attack-like symptoms can be triggered by touch. Such attacks usually begin with licking or biting a limb and subsequent twitching of the back muscles, which then expand to the muscles of the chest. In the further course, the animal begins to run around uncontrollably in the room. Such an episode lasts a few seconds to minutes. Because cats are unresponsive during a seizure, they are believed to have hallucinations .

A diagnosis can only be made by excluding other central nervous disorders. In some cases the disease responds to treatment with phenobarbital or neuroleptics such as risperidone , otherwise there is no established therapy so far. The prognosis is bad.

literature

• Gualtiero Gandini et al .: "Hyperesthesia syndrome" in cats (so-called running fits) . In: Andre Jaggy: Atlas and textbook of small animal neurology . Schlütersche 2005, p. 417. ISBN 3-87706-739-5
• W. Kraft, UM Dürr, K. Hartmann: Cat diseases - Clinic and therapy . M & H. Schaper, Hannover, 2003, vol. 2, p. 1350. ISBN 3-7944-0199-9

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !