by Antoinette Worrall
(Birmingham England)
My cat has developed very sensitive hearing to clicking sounds causing him to twitch and today he had what could be described as a small fit.
I was about to feed him and he was sitting on the table as usually waiting. I was scrapping the leftovers from the tin with a fork and the sound it was making caused him to repeatedly twitch and as I stop it, he starting to run around in a circle.
I took him off the table and he tried to run away but was not in control of his body and still continued to try and run round in a circle.
I tried to hold him because he was heading for the wall and in doing so it appears as though he was having difficulties with his mouth and his tongue.
I held the wee chap until it passed which only took seconds. This was extremely upsetting to witness. I have booked him in with the vet today.
This sensitive hearing started to occur when his brother died on July 10. As time has gone on he has become more and more sensitive to any clicking sound especially the computer mouse.
Please let me know if you have heard anything like this before and what is it. Inner ear problem? He has no other health issues. He is generally a very happy/healthily cat (13 years old).
Antoinette
Hi Antoinette…. thanks for sharing and asking.
I am at a disadvantage as you are going to the vet soon.
Note: this page has been updated regularly as comments come it. The page was written around 4 years ago and since then a new condition has been named called Feline Audiogenic Reflex Seizures. (FARS). This is a form of epilepsy more common in older cats and Birmans. The words that follow were also largely written 4 years ago. — Michael (Admin)
Nonetheless, as you have asked, I will answer as best as I can but this is theoretical based on what you have said.
I don’t think it is connected to the loss of his brother except for the fact that this condition appears to be linked to age. The comments indicate it occurs in elderly cats. Perhaps the loss of his brother knocked him back emotionally and that brought this condition on. I have not found anything in the textbooks which refer to increased sensitivity to sound.
He may have encephalitis, a brain infection but I think this is unlikely. This is because he has a behavioral and personality change which goes wider than hearing problems. However having read the comments it appears to be linked to a change in brain function brought about by a degeneration of the brain due to old age. That is a guess obviously.
Update: I believe this condition is related to old age and associated changes in the brain but that is just a personal theory. More and more comments come in from caretakers of elderly cats (17th Sept 2015).
Click on this link to read more.
For the sake of completeness, Encephalitis can be brought on by:
Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIV)
Panleukopenia – feline distemper
Feline Leukemia – signs. FeLV
Rabies (this does not apply because rabies as been eradicated in the UK).
Pseudorabies
Toxoplasmosis can also cause encephalitis. This is caused by a protozoan
Bacteria can also cause encephalitis.
A fungal infection (Cryptococcus) can also cause it.
The treatment is dependent on the cause.
I won’t go any further as you are seeing a vet who can make a far better diagnosis with your cat in front of him and the full force of his/her training behind him
Good luck to you both.
Update: Please see the comment by Mel at base of page. Very interesting. This may be a case of hypersensitivity to vibrations caused by sound due to deafness.
Best
Wow, Nick your story and your cat’s story is amazing. I never cease to be amazed by this phenomenon. Yours is a very complete story. Right now I don’t have any clever answers. Thank you for sharing.
Probably about 8-9 months ago, my ~18 year old cat had a seizure. We took him to the vets and was told his kidneys weren’t functioning as they used to and that was what probably caused the seizure. If it happened very often (daily or weekly), we should take him back in. Monthly episodes were likely, but nothing to cause any more concern than already was the case. As advised, we switched him to a renal diet.
Since then, every 2-3 months, he has another occurrence. Today was the 4th.
The 1st, I was at work, he was in the kitchen with my wife and she was probably preparing something (knocking about making noise I suspect).
2nd and 3rd occurrences he was sitting on my lap whilst I was on the computer. Clicking away on my mouse and keyboard.
At the time I thought none of it, but the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that he would twitch when I made that “kissing” sound to get his attention. It would happen at other times, but never really tied it to any noise, but I’m sure there was something. I never noticed him twitch with the mouse/keyboard clicks (as per 2 and 3). I decided I was being stupid and didn’t mention it to my wife.
Today’s seizure, he was sitting on my lap and I was tapping my stomach. He twitched slightly and then looked very confused (as to where the sound was coming from maybe?). He then ran away and in a circle before travelling 3-4 metres across the room and fitting for about 30 seconds.
I was adamant to my wife that I caused it and now reading this, it seems I have.
He always takes about a minute or so to recover (stays still), then meows for another minute and then returns back to normal.
Pretty sure he isn’t deaf, he can hear us calling without having to be looking at us. He comes running from a mile away when we do 🙂
Anyway, that is just my story, I hope we can find some answers soon. Thanks.
I’ll use your comment as the basis for a new post because it is v.interesting.
Wow, a tough experience but from a scientific point of view a fascinating one. I have never heard of that. Thanks Mel for sharing. I might do some more work on this. Your comment has inspired me. I hope she is OK.
I think you are right. She has developed a hypersensitivity to vibrations to compensate for deafness and sound vibrations rather than make her ears prick up, make her twitch.
I’m getting ready to take mine to the vet (see my lengthy post on this page) but from things I’ve read, hearing loss contributes to the twitching (hypersensitivity to noise vibrations) and mine meows very loudly at times.
This is my first post to any kind of board like this. I am researching to find a reason for what happened to my cat today. She is 17 and very healthy other than for awhile now has twitched at certain sounds. One that always gets her is hard food (when I feed the dogs) falling into the dish. She is pretty much deaf as we can tell she doesn’t hear us when she’s not looking at us and she meows very loudly at times. Well today she was in the garage and so was I, getting ready to till the garden. I started the tiller in the garage and seconds later my son yelled at me and pointed out what was happening. She was on the floor lying on her side with all 4 legs flailing uncontrollably! I quickly turned off the tiller and ran to her. I gently placed my hands on her and after a few seconds she slowed down. When I thought I could, I tried placing her upright to see if she could even sit up or stand. She was able to stand and even walk but one of her back legs wasn’t working quite right at first. Then everything soon returned to normal and she was fine. I’ve read some things that talk about deaf animals being extremely sensitive to sound waves and I’m thinking the tiller (very loud) sent her over the edge but I would never have thought it would cause her to have a seizure but that’s sure what it looked like. I plan on taking her to the vet after the weekend but wanted to research too. I lost her mother this past fall at the age of 17 1/2 and she seemed like she had a stroke the day she died. We found her limp and unable to move just shortly before she passed. Thanks for any input!