Béla's story: This video shows a mild episode of hers sometimes it would be much worse where she would dart away from her back ripples, like she was trying to run away from them.She would sometimes run into things as she was darting It would make me so sad to watch her. It happened a few times per day, but mostly in the morning and evening. Bela has some Siamese in her (blue eyes) which is what pointed me in the direction of FHS at first after reading that Siamese, Burmese, and Himalayan breeds are more likely to get it. I spent alot of time searching online looking for information about FHS, trying to figure out what to do.

At first, I tried to treat it as an allergy by starting to get rid of all toxins on the house (I guess it was good for us to 'go green' anyway.) I got all natural cleaners for the rug and floors, got rid of all sprays, candles, cleansers, etc. I also tried to buy all natural hand lotions and soaps for myself in case one of the many lotions I used was causing a reaction.

Then I tried to treat it as a behavioral thing by playing with her more. Someone told me it helped to get another cat, but we are not even allowed to have Bela, so getting another was out of the question. We tried to make a point to play with her as much as possible (toy on a string for her to chase, throwing a ball, etc) lots of things to keep her moving and busy.

I also changed her plastic bowls to glass bowls and started using Fromm's grain free cat food...the ingredients are SO much better than other foods anyway!

None of that changed her twitching, though....so it was off to the vet we went....

My vet luckily DID hear of FHS and was treating another cat with it. So when I brought Bela in for tests and showed the vet the video, I already suspected that she might say it was FHS.

(I recommend trying to get a video of your cat to show the vet, or feel free to show mine as an example.)

We did a few tests to rule out anything else first before starting medication on Bela they weren't cheap but I did them for piece of mind:
Total Panel Blood Test
Urinalysis
Xrays
Crypt and Toxo Titers blood test

All of them came back normal so my vet recommended the drug Phenobarbital. It is a medicine used to treat epilepsy. I must admit, I was VERY against it at first, especially after reading that it makes cats very sedated for the first 34 weeks. I did not want a "doped up" cat. But, I also realized that I needed to do SOMETHING. I couldn't just watch her twitch and dart around like that anymore.

So, I put her on the Phenolbarbital and hoped for the best. Honestly, it was the best thing I ever did. The first few weeks were very tough...seeing her not acting like herself, watching her have trouble jumping onto things (she would fall sometimes because she did not have 100% muscle strength) but the vet kept reassuring me that that was normal and I had to just trust her and know that the sedation effects would only last about 3 weeks.

She was right. Slowly, Bela came back to normal...and now she is just as happy and playful as she was before without all the twitching and licking! Once in awhile she will have an episode but they are nowhere near as severe or frequent as they used to be.

We had to play around with the dosage in the beginning. At first she was taking too much (there is a phenobarbital test they can do to check the levels in her blood) then she wasn't taking enough now she is at 1/2 pill in the morning and a full pill at night.(*edit she now takes only 1 pill at night and is fine)

I get lots of questions about how to pill a cat. This was a tough one! It took us about a year to get her to FINALLY take her pill without a fight.
the first few months were easy she ate a Greenies Pill Pocket no problem, but then she caught on and figured out there was a pill inside.
Next I tried the pill popper. It worked well sometimes, but other times she would still spit it out. The best way for me has been to kneel above her and have her facing out in between my knees (yes, basically sitting on her.) Then, I pet her ALOT before the pill to calm her. Then I open her mouth with one hand and drop the pill into the back of her throat. I used to have to hold her mouth closed until she swallowed (it helped to massage her throat up and down a bit or to use a syringe to squirt a tiny bit of water in the side of her mouth to get her to swallow.) Once she swallows, I ALWAYS give her treats and praise her. I think after time she started to associate pill time with pets and treats because it is MUCH easier now. It just took a TON of patience, love, and sometimes wasted pills that she spit up.
If you do choose to put your cat on the drug, feel free to message me if you have ANY questions or just need some support!

For more information, there is a facebook group that someone started to help with support for us   / 328085550690975