Cat owners were asking questions because their older cats were having seizures in response to high-pitched noises.
The matter was complicated by the fact that there was no documentation on this problem, and nothing was really known about it, Science Daily reports.
So Mark Lowrie and Laurent Garosi of Davies Veterinary Specialists, along with Robert Harvey from the UCL School of Pharmacy, London, decided to investigate. Compiling a questionnaire for owners to complete, and working with International Cat Care, the story, fueled by interest from the media, went worldwide. The malady was soon dubbed “Tom and Jerry Syndrome,” after the cartoon character Tom who was a bit on the jumpy side and often reacted with involuntary jerks to sound stimuli, Science Daily reports.
The veterinarians received hundreds of replies from around the world from people who had seen the same problems with their cats in response to certain kinds of sound. These cat owners also said that their local vets didn’t have any information at all about this problem and quite often didn’t believe that sound had triggered the seizure.
Lowrie, Garosi, and Harvey, writing in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, concluded that the condition is likeliest to affect elderly cats, The Daily Mail reports.
Studying the evidence from 96 cat owners, the vets found the seizures could be triggered by crinkling tin foil, the sound of a metal spoon clanging in a ceramic feeding bowl, the chinking or tapping of glass, rustling of plastic bags, or even the tap of fingers on a computer keyboard.
The vets termed the syndrome Feline Audiogenic Reflex Seizures or FARS, and the seizures are similar to those seen in an epileptic fit.
The most common symptom is a myoclonic seizure–a brief shock-like jerk of the cat’s head or upper body. In some cases, cats fall unconscious, stiffen, and may jerk around for several minutes, The Daily Mail reports.
Birman cats, a beautiful pedigreed breed with silky fur and blue eyes, seemed to offer the most examples of FARS, but other cases were also reported among a wide range of breeds and non-pedigreed cross-breeds. On average, the seizures began around age 15, but in some cases they started as early as age ten.
One reason that cats are so sensitive to these high-pitched sounds may may be because their hearing range is ultrasonic, ABC Science reports.
“Mice and rats communicate in the ultrasonic frequency range (around 40 KHz). It is believed that cats developed a secondary ultrasonic sensitive hearing range at these frequencies, presumably as an evolutionary advantage in catching rats and mice; their natural prey,” the vets write.
“This study has defined a previously unreported syndrome by using a carefully screened questionnaire and medical records,” the researchers say. “The hope is that publication of the paper will raise awareness among vets in practice about this syndrome.”
Fortunately, it looks like there’s a medication that works quite well for FARS. The team has found that the drug, Levetiracetam, which is used for epilepsy, effectively treats the problem, The Daily Mail reports.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response to our work,” Lowrie said. “A second study is soon to be published suggesting that Levetiracetam is an excellent choice of medication in managing this condition. Our experience is that it can completely rid a cat of these sound-induced seizures, including the myoclonic twitches–one owner reported that Levetiracetam had ‘truly been a miracle drug for my cat.'”
“How wonderful to be able to go back to those worried owners who came to us for help with a problem previously unrecognized by the veterinary profession with not only an explanation for their cats’ behaviors, but a way to help them as well,” Claire Bessant, chief executive of International Cat Care, said in a statement.”
