The last few weeks have been a very trying time for me. I cannot really say whether Tiger has improved, deteriorated or just stayed at status quo. It’s hard to decide. I’ve been monitoring him as closely as possible and because of this, I see more of the seizure episodes.
However, one pattern is for sure and that is, the seizures happen when he gets into a scratching-biting frenzy. It doesn’t happen when he is calm. So I draw the conclusion that this is probably hyperesthesia. I don’t blame any of the vets for being unable to say conclusively what it is because hyperesthesia is such an unknown disease and it is also classified as a seizure disorder in some cases. Even epilepsy is idiopathic in most cases.
I don’t want to put Tiger through any invasive tests so the only thing left is to accept that he has this condition and the manage it as best we can.
Tiger is currently under TCM (Chinese medicine, Bach Flower mixtures, a probiotic and nutritional yeast as a B-Complex supplement) and home-cooked food. I have restarted him on fish oil (since the source of this brand is sardines and anchovies (smaller fish)). The holistic vet was concerned about large fish being very contaminated with heavy metals. Sometimes, Tiger gets a bit bored of the home-cooked food, so I do give him a teaspoon of canned food just to encourage him to eat. His appetite is normal, sometimes even good (which is good) and his weight has been constant at 5kg. On some meals, I have to coax him to eat by hand-feeding him. Cleo and Bunny are constantly trying to steal his food, so sometimes he gets scared of them hounding him.
The seizures are still happening. For example, I gave him a bath yesterday because the scratching was so intense. But after the bath, he licked himself compulsively and thereafter threw another short seizure. Nowadays, the seizures only last about 2-3 seconds with urine splatters but they seemed a little less violent (I am aware that I may not be objective enough to make this conclusion, though),
Today, Tiger decided he wants to sleep in Pole’s condo. I suppose this is a good sign because for many days, he had been hiding under the sofa, even eating under the sofa, too scared to come out.
It is really, really nice to see Tiger sleeping peacefully.
Tabs is here.
Tiger also likes sleeping under the vegetable pots.
Previously, when he was really under-confident, he would spend the whole day under the sofa. It was hard to get him out to feed him his medicines as the wooden sofa is extremely heavy. So we removed two of the drawers so that I would have two large “holes” to get to Tiger. He doesn’t go under the sofa now.
This is a very adorable photo of the Bird Family wanting to see Tiger after his acupuncture visit the other day. I guess cats know more than us.
So I have to come to terms with Tiger’s condition and accept that there is no cure for his illness. I hope all the calming holistic supplements that we are giving him (still not on any drugs) will reduce his obsessive scratching and biting and thus, reduce his seizure episodes.
Oh, we are going to try the Thundershirt on Tiger. Maybe it can reduce his anxiety. Thank you very much, Megaa, for asking her vet in Australia about Tiger’s hyperesthesia condition and offering to purchase it for Tiger. There’s no need to get it from there because Connie’s Shitzu, Dodo, has a Thundershirt which is just Tiger’s size (based on the chest measurements) and Dodo is giving it to Tiger since he doesn’t use it anymore.
We are very grateful for all the kind wishes and support. Thank you very much!