Twitching facial movements

[JER59]

My 15 yr old cat has had twitching facial movements that are only noticeable when she lays on my lap or chest. She has had them at least a year. No other symptoms except her eyes seem to be dialated alot and a little bit cloudy at times. Is this a neurological disease and does she need brain xrays? She is ok otherwise, although she is getting quite needy.

[JER59]

Thank you - I will see what the initial office visit comes up with and go from there. She has no other personality changes other than being extrememly needy since out other cat passed away.(liver disease) She eats well and does not show signs of hurting anywhere or being ill. At 15, I expected her to gradually decline in health but the twitching is new to me and so I thought I better ask if it was a sign of something specific. Sorry to drag the financial situation into this but if I had a great job and plenty of money, my pets would live like kings and veterinary care would be first and foremost on my list of expenses!

[Dean Vicksman, D.V.M.]

I agree with you that it is unlikely that blood tests would help to diagnose a primary neurological disease, but some neurological conditions can be secondary to other diseases. Based on your description, this also would also be unlikely but not impossible.
For example Hyperthyroidism or Diabetes could cause neurological changes.  Typically when trying to diagnose a problem its best to work from the least expensive diagnostics (blood tests) to the more expensive diagnostics (MRI).  Its also best to work from the least invasive diagnostics (again blood tests) to more invasive.diagnostics (MRI).  I also believe that a good physical exam will go a long ways here to help rule in or rule out specific problems.
Again the fact that this has been going on for over a year and not progressing makes it far less likely to be a life threatening problem.
I truly understand your financial concerns but unfortunately the test that will be most diagnostic as to weather or not this is a primary neurological condition is a cat scan or MRI.  Either of which is very expensive and requires a general anesthetic.
As for primary neurological conditions that could cause this, I would think of partial seizures, brain tumor (usually this would be progressive) or possibly an unusual behavior problem.
Again my recommendation--- Get a thorough physical exam.  Talk to your veterinarian and let them know your financial concerns.  They probably wont be able to give you a diagnosis with out some diagnoatics but I do believe they can give you a good expert opinion as to weather they think this is serious or not.
Hope this helps.
Again keep me posted.
Thanks,
Dr Vicksman

[JER59]

Is there anything that you think it COULD be? Like Kitty Parkinsons or something? lol I just can't see that a blood test would show anything going on neurologically. But, I will call my Vet to see what they suggest. Of course a whole battery of tests will cost me a mint and I am out of work,  like 1/3 - 1/2 of all pet owners right now, and w/o health insurance I can't even have tests if it was MY face that was twitching! So I came on here - hoping to get an idea of whether this could be life threatening, so I don't go ahead and sell all my furniture to get the money to take her in. After 15 yrs, I guess I owe her that though!

[Dean Vicksman, D.V.M.]

Thanks for coming to Medhelp.org.
The fact that this has been going on for over a year and has not progressed makes me less concerned about this.  Since it has been several years since your kitty has seen a veterinarian, I think that would be the place to start. The clinical signs that you describe are nonspecific for many conditions and may or may not be a neurological disease.   Before getting xrays she should have a complete physical exam.  In addition to the physical exam it would be nice to get what we call a minimum data base.  This is complete blood tests including blood chemistries, a thyroid level, a complete blood cell count, and a urinalysis. Once we have this information we can decide weather or not to proceed further with more advanced diagnostics.  Unfortunately xrays are not very effective at evaluating the brain.  That would require advanced diagnostics like an EEG and/or an MRI/ Catscan.  These may or may not be necessary based on the results of the physical exam and blood tests.
Hope this helps.
Please keep me posted
Thanks,
Dr Vicksman