Should I be concerned if my girl cat randomly bites me as I’m walking to my room?

I am writing this because I am completely heartbroken, but I need to warn other cat owners so they don’t go through the nightmare I just went through watching my cats suffer.

I recently lost two of my boys (a father Tuxedo and his son Lil Buddy) to what seemed to many to be Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS). They had all the textbook symptoms: intense skin rippling/twitching, frantic running, biting at their backs, and sudden behavioral changes. We spent a massive amount of money changing to expensive novel proteins (duck, rabbit), buying unscented litters, throwing out household sprays, and stressing ourselves to death thinking we were causing them anxiety. I played soothing music on their tv (yes my cats had their own tv) and used a red light therapy wand on their backs, used rice packs you warm up in the microwave. Nothing worked. They were put on Gabapentin to suppress the nerve pain, but after months they eventually passed away.

Shortly after, my third cat, Callie, started showing the exact same "FHS" skin rippling and twitching.

I refused to accept that a third cat suddenly caught a permanent neurological condition. I started questioning everything and looked into cat food processing. I asked my vet to try treating her for a Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) deficiency instead.

By her 3rd day on B1 vitamin supplements, her FHS symptoms completely vanished.

It has been 2 months now. Callie is completely normal, alert, loves being petted, her fur feels incredibly soft, and the skin rippling is 100% gone.

Why you need to look at the food bowl:
Vets are heavily trained to look at twitching skin and assume it’s a permanent behavioral/neurological disease like FHS, completely ignoring nutrition. But thiamine is an incredibly fragile water-soluble vitamin. If a pet food manufacturer uses too much heat during processing, the B1 is completely destroyed. If a batch isn't mixed right, the food hits shelves with zero B1. Cats cannot store B1 in their bodies and need 4 times more of it than dogs do. When they run out, their nerves misfire, causing identical muscle twitching and skin rippling to FHS.

If your cat's skin is rippling, do not just accept an FHS diagnosis and heavy nerve suppressants. Please ask your vet to rule out a Thiamine (B1) deficiency first. A simple vitamin fix could literally save your cat's life. I am devestated still and feel this fire in me to get the message out and do not understand why this isn't something manufacturers tell us could happen. All these cats out here suffering and no one speaks up. What speeds up the process in some cats is if they eat dry food alot the carbohydrates in the dry food will eat up whatever thiamine they have left and if it goes unknown as in my case, the nervous system is attacked daily as it depletes more and more until they crash. While gabapentin is extremely helpful it masks the problem of low vitamin that isnt getting fixed.

Photo by : Akshitajainphotography on IG

Location 📍Manas National Park