Sunny tremors

[Holly and Sunny Bear]

I've seen something concerning a few times lately. Out of nowhere I will see Sunny have a slight head tremor that lasts for just a second. He seems fine otherwise.

He was just following me around the house asking for food, and sat down where his treats are kept and looked at me, and then his head tremored. It lasted for only a second. I tested his BG and he's at 168. And I fed him some FF. He seems fine otherwise but this has me concerned. I've seen it two other times last week but thought I was just imagining it.

In the past I've seen him occasionally do this with his front legs when sitting. But the head shake is new.

Should I be concerned? What could this be?

 

[Librarianista]

My cat also sometimes gets the shakes. Her head will twitch a few times, or her skin will shiver like she’s dreaming even when she’s awake. Her BG has always been at decent levels when I’ve tested while it’s happening. She seems otherwise unbothered when it’s happening - no signs of seizures or anything like that.

I have unfortunately been able to find very little info on this subject online. I found only one article that suggests it could be a rarer symptom of diabetic neuropathy, so I’m not sure if that was credible. I added some Methyl B12 in her wet food for a little while to see if that made a difference, but I’m not sure it did.

Other research I did suggested that sometimes older cats get twitches from time to time and vets aren’t sure why. But it could also be a side effect of something neurological. So you could call your vet and see if they are concerned. I’m sure it happens quickly but if it starts happening more often and at certain times, you can try to get a video of it and see if that would help them diagnose something.

 

[Holly and Sunny Bear]

@Librarianista thanks! I was also reading that it could be an electrolyte issue like low potassium, or an issue with high mercury. I put a call into my vet and waiting for a call back to see what she thinks.

I add water to most of Sunny's meals. But it's soft water from the tap. I wonder if i should not be giving soft water.....? I think it has high potassium bc of the salt treatment.

 

[roxyboxy]

idk if this is similar, since idk what the 'tremor' looks like... but my cat was flinching/ducking her head for a bit and it turned out to be her ears. idk, just something you can rule out, maybe!

 

[Holly and Sunny Bear]

This tremor is more like what you would see in a Parkinson's patient.... like he wasn't shaking his head on purpose.

 

[CatLadyBB]

Good morning, was this ever diagnosed?

 

[Holly and Sunny Bear]

Good morning, was this ever diagnosed?

He stopped doing this a few weeks after he had his dental procedure -- so the vet said she though it was due to the fading inflammation/pain that he had afterwards. He had quite a few teeth pulled. I haven't seen him do this again since then luckily.