Kitty's story + Why I can't travel overnight without a cat sitter?

I adopted Kitty from North Shore Animal League on Long Island, NY in May of 2009. He was only 8 weeks old.

He was pretty healthy in the beginning, but at the age of 2 he became developing strange symptoms. The skin on his back, mostly around his tail area would twitch, and he was scratching himself non-stop. His pupils would dilate, and he would run around the house as if he was having a fit. He also would flap his ears, scratch his head and the area around eyes and shake his head.

Here and here are videos from when it all started. I brought Kitty to specialists and finally found a neurologist who did not just disregard they symptoms and think that I was crazy. After eliminating ear infections, flees, allergies and other potential conditions, she diagnosed him with Feline hypersthesia syndrome.

It all made sense now. After trying different medications starting with Phenobarbital and finishing with Amitriptyline, medications that would just make Kitty sleepy, we settled on a low dose (0.5 mL) of Gabapentin (50mg/1mL - compounded at a pharmacy, in a liquid form) twice a day. He has been on the same dose for 5 years now. He gets his fits once in a while even now, but less intense. The episodes resolve as soon as I give him his meds (or sometimes 0.2 mL extra).

Because he still gets episodes I considered once to increase the dosage of Gabapentin, but in a trial Kitty's third eyelids started to cover his eyes when he was not sleeping. As soon as the dose was reduced back to 0.5 mL of Gabapentin, the situation resolved (after a visit to an ophthalmologist). Kitty is doing ok now.

Since he requires this medication twice a day, preferably every 12 hours, I cannot leave on vacation or a trip without having someone come to give him his medicine twice a day. It has been really a challenge to find someone here in Fresno, and I am still in search of my cat sitter.

I wanted to tell you Kitty's story because I am certain that other cat owners have similar situations and might not know what's wrong with their cat. It is devastating to see your pet suffer and not know how to help them. Please share this so that we increase awareness of this condition.