Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Poor Simon has been dealing with this for years. For awhile, a subcutaneous steroid injection twice a year calmed him down and kept him from licking his hot-spot into a bloody mess, and after an injection he was always back to his old self again almost immediately. He'd been fine for a year, even through the move to the new house, but since January he's been licking his spot again, and it's so so so bad. I've been keeping him in a home-made "shirt" for 2 weeks to keep him from licking it, and it works, but I can tell he's upset and he's not himself. He's had 2 steroid shots since January, and they're not working at all.

My vet says there's nothing else, besides lots of attention, that's effective in treating this unless I want to step-it-up to prednisone injections, but that puts him at risk of developing diabetes. I asked about phenobarb and benzodiazepines, but he says they won't work.

I don't know what to do. I'm thisclose to hiring an animal communicator. Also, I wonder if he needs a fur-brother. But I'm scared to adopt another cat cuz I don't want Simon to think I don't love him anymore.

Have you taken him to a neurologist? Lady M was fur mowing and I think she shows signs of hyperesthesia. Right now she gets prednisalone and an anti-anxiety pill and she's doing ok. I don't see why your vet wouldn't let you try phenobarbital.

If the diagnosis is hyperesthesia without any complicating dermatological factors, you may want to talk to your vet (or a different one!) about gabapentin. It's one of the newer drugs being used for this, and it really seems to get good results. This is only going to work if his licking is creating the hot spots. If he is hyper-reacting to small skin infections and making them into diasters, the gabapentin may still help, but it may be beneficial to seem a specialist for his skin.

Wow. I never realized what this was until reading this post. Our cat Tiffany has what looks like little back spasms when he's trying to relax. The fur on his back jumps around a bunch, but he's not licking it or creating any sores. I'm sorry your kitty is going through this. :(