Twitching issues on cat's back

My 4 year old male cat has recently developed an issue where if you touch his back, it begins to twitch- almost like a rippling effect, and he begins to try to lick your hand. I can tell he gets bothered by this, but I don't think he's in pain because when you stop, he curls up and wants you to pet him again. This just started over the weekend, so I haven't brought him to the vet yet.

Any ideas?

Re: Twitching issues on cat's back

I know exactly what this is! I've heard it referred to as rolling skin syndrome or twitch skin syndrome. One of my parent's cats has this. There's a certain spot on his back that if you touch it, his skin on his back ripples and he tries to lick and bite anything near him- my hand, the couch, even the dog! It's hard to diagnose this, there's no real tests to be done. They try and rule out other issues like allergies, but there's no real treatment for it, just for the syptoms. I don't want to alarm you, but as a result of this my parent's cat has seizures occasionally. I don't know if this will definitely happen to your cat, but I'd take him to the vet anyway. I'd also try to avoid disrupting him- I know on my parent's cat it's a certain spot on his back that sets him off, even loud noises now bother him and can cause a seizure. Good luck!!

ETA: Here's an article I found about it.

ETAA: Their cat doesn't have the problem of licking himself. He seems to have the seizures and the twitchy skin symptoms.

Message edited 11/20/2013 11:55:42 AM.

Twitching issues on cat's back

Is it right by the base of the tail? The cats I had growing up had this. My cats now don't. It's a fairly normal thing.

ETA: my cats didn't have seizures.

Message edited 11/23/2013 7:16:04 AM.

Re: Twitching issues on cat's back

my male cat had this also he never had any major problems but if your concern it never hurts to have the vet check it out to rule out anything major.

Twitching issues on cat's back

thank you for the replies

He actually stopped it over this past weekend. No issues when I touch his back. I'm thinking he was playing roughly with my other cat and may have irritated it- they tear my house apart when they play lol