Tremors in cats - causes and clinical features from 105 cases

Abstract

Although tremors are common neurological presentations, there is little known about their clinical features and underlying etiologies in cats. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features, and underlying diagnoses in cats with tremors. We hypothesized that the results of this study would provide clinically useful information for clinicians when evaluating cats with tremors. This is a retrospective, single-center, study of cats with tremors between 2004 and 2023. Inclusion criteria included complete medical records, presence or report of tremor or twitch, and a final or presumptive diagnosis. One hundred five cats met the inclusion criteria. The most common diagnoses associated with tremors were degenerative encephalopathy (19/105; 18.1 %), feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) (17/105; 16.2 %), congenital portosystemic shunt (17/105; 16.2 %), intoxication (16/105 15.2 %) and polyneuropathy (8/105; 7.6 %). Most common degenerative encephalopathies were suspected cerebellar cortical degeneration (7/19; 50 %) and lysosomal storage diseases (7/19; 50 %) and manifested intention head tremors. Intention head tremors were also seen in cats with FIP and thiamine deficiency encephalopathy. Portosystemic shunt tremors were of variable features, focal or generalised, intentional, nonintentional or both. The most common intoxication was permethrin ingestion and was most commonly associated with generalized tremors as the main presenting complaint. The most common type of tremor in cats with a polyneuropathy was a generalised tremor or limb tremor. Different tremor phenotypes occur and are associated with specific underlying diagnoses in cats. This information can aid clinicians on the best way to approach cats with a variety of tremor phenotypes.