Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
I’ll admit, this is quite an odd topic to be brought up on our pet blog, but it is a highly common question for pet parents, especially those who have cats that have “mood swings.” There have been a number of articles floating around the internet claiming that there is a relation between owning a cat and developing Schizophrenia and a study published in the journal “Schizophrenia Research” claimed that “Cat ownership in childhood has now been reported in three studies to be significantly more common in families in which the child is later diagnosed with schizophrenia or another serious mental illness.” So is this something that we cat lovers should be worried about or is this all hype?
Well, with every article that claims that Schizophrenia or other mental illnesses develop because of cats, hundreds of others get published proving that cats are actually a benefit to have in our households such as helping with loneliness, or a study even showed that cat owners are 30% less likely to have a heart attack.
FHS (Feline Hyperesthesia) or “Kitty Schizophrenia”
Very different from the human version of Schizophrenia, Feline Hyperesthesia is when a cat seems to have character changes, seems to be having hallucinations, seems possessed, acts manic or seems “schizophrenic.”
List of “Symptoms”
- Frantic grooming usually on the flank or tail which tends to lead to hair loss
- Sudden bursts of hyperactivity or aggressive behaviour
- Sensitivity to touch on the spine
- Large pupils
- Vocalizations, crying or loud screaming/meowing
- Hallucinations or following of movements that aren’t actually there
- A fixation with their tail leading to tail swishing, tail chasing or vicious attacks to their tail
- Skin rippling/rolling
- Sudden move swings (such as cuddly to aggressive)
- Seizures
- Falling over
- Salivating
Causes
Unfortunately, there are no known causes for FHS, but there are a few guesses as to what could be causing this in cats.
- A manic tendency caused by stress
- This is most seen in oriental cats, although there hasn’t been any concrete proof that their “manic episodes” are related to stress.
- Electrical activity in areas of the brain that control emotions
- This may also affect their grooming habits, or predatory behaviour, as well as if they have seizures.
- FHS may be a form of kitty “OCD”
- This is assumed because cats that have FHS tend to over-groom. Cats who show signs of FHS have been given anti-obsessional medications which have seen some positive responses.
- This hypothesis has been compared to humans who have OCD who also have had seizures.
- Lesions on the spine
- A number of cats who have been diagnosed with FHS have been found with pathological lesions in the muscles along their spine. It is easy to assume that these lesions are the cause for their irritation, sensitivity and/or pain.
How It’s Diagnosed
There are actually no confirmed tests for this “disease.” Vets will usually go down a list of symptoms and will try to confirm that they aren’t symptoms of other ailments or mental problems. Vets must be careful while diagnosing FHS and will go through the history of your cat’s behaviour and will perform a very thorough physical exam. Some tests will include a blood test, thyroid hormone level as well as a chemical profile.
Misdiagnosis
Because FHS is a disease that isn’t easily diagnosed/confirmed there are a number of misdiagnoses. The following are some of the most common medical conditions that have been confused as FHS: nutritional deficits, severe allergies, lead poisoning, brain traumas, brain tumours, brain infections, hyperthyroidism.
Treatments
- Minimize your cat’s stress
- Play with your cat much more
- Consider getting yourself another cat
- Train the cat to perform a new trick every so often
- If you have cats that are constantly fighting, make sure to address the fights
- Get them toys they can take their aggression out on
- Spend more quality time with the cat
- Make multiple levels for your cats to run around on
- Get a fish tank or birds for them to watch (just make sure that they do not try to attack the animals.)
- As someone who owns a fish as well as a Chinchilla, this really helped Beau who doesn’t have FHS but Pica.
- Provide toys with Catnip if they like catnip
- Provide interactive/automatic toys
- Get a challenging feeder for them
- Try playing calming music
Conclusion
Unfortunately, FHS seems to be a fairly unproven ailment at this point. It is clear that something is affecting a number of cats, but personally a lot of these things seem like symptoms that are normal for my cat (ie. the mood swings, large pupils, vocalizations [when he’s bored], sudden burst of energy, and over grooming [although Beau doesn’t seem to be losing any hair.]) I will not disregard the research that has been put into FHS, but I am interested to know if any of this ever becomes solid evidence versus theories. Let me know what you think pet parents! Do any of your kitties have any signs of FHS? Have any of your cats been diagnosed with it? What did you do and did it help?
I have a 8yr old female that we have always considered bipolar. You just never know what cat your getting. She will jump in your lap and be happy, 3 seconds later, she wants to kill you. We know her moods, so we know when to just keeps our hands and other body parts safe. This past weekend she has started fighting with herself. Growling, hissing, swatting at nothing and running like she is being chased. Last night was the worst, she was breathing so hard by the time she stopped, I thought she was going to collapse. I have a call in to the vets, as it is a holiday week, so they have limited hours. I have found that Catnip seems to be our saving grace right now. We are living a nightmare right now. We also have 2 other cats that are scared to death of her when she is in one of her spells. I hope they continue to do research on this kind of behavior.
I’m so sorry to hear that you’re experiencing this. I hope the vets can help you out, please feel free to keep me updated about what’s going on!
Our previously very sweet 1 1/2 year old cat (we adopted both her and her sister as kittens) is having some sort of mental breakdown. She had an episode (hissing and growling) so crazily that we took her to the vet. Nothing. Basically she was in a bad mood. She snapped out of it after a week or so but come Thanksgiving she starts acting the same way but worse. She now lives in her own room and we can hear her screaming across the house. We try to go in and visit (sometimes she’s happy) but mostly she is just trying to attack. We have 3 other cats and I’m just not sure what to do. It’s as if she sees things that aren’t there. She always was very aware of shadows and light sources. She is terrorizing our house. 🙁
Oi, that seems like it would be fairly scary to deal with. I’ve personally never met a kitty with FHS yet. I have, however, had some friends who have met them/have had them. Did the vet recommend anything to help/have you tried any of the above treatments? I’m curious to know what works/doesn’t work for your cat! Please feel free to keep me updated about her case. I’ve also been keeping my eye out on new “advancements” vets have been making on the topic and will let you know what I find out (if you’d like).
My cat, Isaac, was doing something similar with our other kitties (but not the vocalizing and growling) and it turned out he had a yeast infection in BOTH ears. Once we started treatment, he went back to his normal self. I am still treating him; Originally, the vet thought pills was the way to go, but after research she found that using a daily anti-fungal ear cleaner works best (and is less damaging to the kitty). Before he was diagnosed with the infection, I assumed he had the FHS mentioned in this article, as the behavior was right on (read my entry below)! At night, he would be sleeping soundly with the other cats, and then he would suddenly start attacking them and they would all go flying off the bed. I got up once to see what the heck was going on, and he was repeatedly running into my bathroom, sliding on the rug into the wall – over and over and over. His eyes were dilated, his back was twitching. It was almost scary. My Vet’s opinion is that there is an underlying health issue causing the odd behavior. A second opinion may be in order. Best of luck to you, we sure love our furbabies.
This is very timely! I rescued a kitty, now named Isaac, that I was feeding on my front porch – he was limping and had an open sore on his back, poor guy. I’ve had him nearly a year, now. I noticed that he was twitchy and scratchy and a bit hyper while still outside, but I figured he had fleas and pain from the sore (this was before he let me touch him). Since bringing him into my multi-cat household and getting him healed up, he goes through fits where his skin ripples, head shakes, tail lashes, and then he runs through the house like a maniac, matching the videos I’ve seen of cats diagnosed with FHS. I am taking him to my vet this weekend for a general check up and plan to discuss this with her. I’m interested to get her take on this. Isaac adores my other cats and is so cuddly with them, and they are all very accepting. He had an episode on Monday of this week, and hid for several hours afterwards, but always came out for his meals. He is back to normal, now, about 36 hours later, his friendly self. Very odd.
I can say that he had this behavior before I brought him into the house, and he CHOSE my house, with my cats. So, we can definitely rule out the “stress from multi-cat household” theory for FHS.
One of the sites I found while learning about FHS compared it to fibromyalgia in humans, also a very difficult diagnosis.
Let me know how it goes Lisa! I’m glad you found this article and really hope that it helps you properly diagnose your new little one <3
Back from the vet. She believes that FHS is caused from an undiagnosed health issue – she shared a story of one of her horses, displaying similar behavior to FHS, and he was found to have calcium deposits in his intestines – once removed, he was fine. In Isaac kitty’s case, he was found to have a yeast infections in both ears! THAT is what the vet believes caused his FHS behavior, and that would certainly account for the head shaking and scratching. I have a long road ahead; he will need pills every day for a month to help clear up the infection. Should be interesting. Wish me luck!
Wishing you the absolute best of luck. Please keep me updated!!
Our Giulietta suffered with FHS while her sister (littermate) was sick and for quite a long time after she passed away. I used to tease that our now angel, Lily Olivia, was bi-polar, but it was just her calico personality. Our Sawyer has seizures; though, we are currently two months seizure free with phenobarbital. He displays many of the symptoms you list, but vet has never mentioned FHS with regard to him. This article was super informative. Thank you so much.
Hey, no problem at all! It’s what I love doing! Spreading as much info as possible. It’s probably also hard for your vet to diagnose many of these symptoms as they connect with a lot of other ailments that could be happening (ie. why they haven’t mentioned FHS for Sawyer.) But I hope your vet can figure it out because seizures are definitely no fun to deal with. Glad the phenobarbital is helping though <3
My KaTwo was diagnosed with this. I got her from a shelter and was not told about it, but once I adopt, I never return. She has her own room most of the time because she gets too stressed near other cats. She is quite loving to me most of the time, but then it is like she is possessed.
Hey Ellen, I’d actually love to hear more about it. It’s something I’ve actually never really seen in person before. Would you be comfortable emailing me about it?
I don’t like when they use terms like schizophrenia to describe a condition that is different like FHS. Same goes with calling FIV feline aids. It gives people the wrong idea.
I 100% agree with you on this. I found it so weird when I first read up on FIV, especially because I still have people in my life who believe that HIV can be spread through saliva and then they use they claim that “if cats can spread it through saliva, humans definitely can.” *sigh* the world we live in.
One of my rescues is very touchy (she spent 3 days up a tree in January 2013 before a tree service guy finally rescued her. ) I think it’s more likely she has something like PTSD. Cats can definitely get depressed too !
Yeah PTDS is super common in rescue kitties sadly, but who can blame them! Depression is also a really big one. I luckily haven’t had a kitty who has had either yet, but I’ve been doing lots of reading on how to make sure to give them the proper care <3
That’s a great post! I had never heard of this until I read about it here. I asked my sister who is a vet and she said she has seen a couple of cases and luckily so far they have had luck with kitty Prozac. Felines are fascinating mysteries!
Interesting! I’d actually love to talk to your sister more (if she’s interested) to get to know more from a vet’s perspective!
There was a cat who’s humans called 911 Emergency, because the cat goes crazy sometimes, and they needed help to get out of their bedroom! This happened a few years ago. Jackson Galaxy worked with this cat, and they diagnosed FHS, and the humans sadly agreed to rehome the cat to another couple who had the means to buy the medicines needed, and time to spend. I don’t know if there has been any other follow up on how the kitty is now doing. Now, humans can get toxoplasmosis from cats, and this is the culprit that poor news services like to use to stir people up. “Possible symptoms include fever, a general feeling of malaise and swollen lymph nodes. If a person’s immune system has been compromised in some way, such as is the case when someone has Aids, toxoplasmosis can lead to potentially life-threatening brain infections.”
*sigh* I’ll be honest. That makes me very uncomfortable. I’m glad the kitty got rehomed, but I’m still really wary about FHS. I guess I’ve never had a kitty who has “FHS” so I can’t say what it’s really like to have them, but all my kitties show/have shown a number of these signs, but it’s because they’re normal kitties. And yes, I’ve heard so many crazy conspiracies and crazy “toxoplasmosis leads to…” thoughts that I shake my head to. It’s honestly pretty insane how much “fake news” for a lack of a better term there is out there.