Shelter kitten with herpes?

white cat lover

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I am looking for some input here. There is a kitten at the shelter that has herpes. First off, when we got him he was feral. He is now much more social. He has recently been diagnosed with feline herpes. How can we tactfully tell potential adopters that he has herpes? What can we write about it on petfinder? Are there any helpful links about herpes anyone has? I have been scouring the forums for the past day.

My biggest question is: are adult cats & kittens who are vaccinated w/ the FVCCRP(I believe that is the right abbreviation) immune to herpes? Could they still get herpes?

This poor little boy is probably 4-5 months old now. He is all alone in his cage & they don't want to let him out as he may give it to another kitty. We are going to start him on l-lysine & get meds from the vet. I just want to be able to fully understand herpes so I can get him adopted out to a good home. I would take him home in a heartbeat. He's soo....
 

zak&rocky

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I'm not sure if being vaccinated makes them fully immune. My(currently missing) kitty Rocky has it. I can tell you that I have three other cats and none of them ever caught it, as far as I can tell. Zakk did have a lil cold last year- the only reason I could tell is because he sneezed a few times but it went away and we got him on meds. I feed all of my cats lysine in the food as a preventative, also because you can't tell them which bowl to eat out of.

I also recently saw a petfinder posting that said that the cats need to go to a home with other cats that have herpes.. this lady was also trying to place the two of them together..
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by zak&rocky

I'm not sure if being vaccinated makes them fully immune. My(currently missing) kitty Rocky has it. I can tell you that I have three other cats and none of them ever caught it, as far as I can tell. Zakk did have a lil cold last year- the only reason I could tell is because he sneezed a few times but it went away and we got him on meds. I feed all of my cats lysine in the food as a preventative, also because you can't tell them which bowl to eat out of.

I also recently saw a petfinder posting that said that the cats need to go to a home with other cats that have herpes.. this lady was also trying to place the two of them together..
Pixel has herpes, & when she was diagnosed the vet didn't say anything about the others needing vaccination or any other type of protection or prevention. he told me they usually caught it from their mothers, & it would be dormant until some sort of stress brought it on. Pixel's showed up about 4 months after Mouse passed, when i brought Java home. so she was grieving & a new cat entered her life. since then, i just watch her & give her lysine if i suspect a flare-up, since she's so difficult to medicate. the very act of medicating her is stressful, IMO.
 
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Originally Posted by laureen227

Pixel has herpes, & when she was diagnosed the vet didn't say anything about the others needing vaccination or any other type of protection or prevention. he told me they usually caught it from their mothers, & it would be dormant until some sort of stress brought it on. Pixel's showed up about 4 months after Mouse passed, when i brought Java home. so she was grieving & a new cat entered her life. since then, i just watch her & give her lysine if i suspect a flare-up, since she's so difficult to medicate. the very act of medicating her is stressful, IMO.
Sadly, this kitten takes meds willingly.
He has been treated with Terramycin for an eye infection 1-2 months ago. It then cleared up completely. He has been dewormed 3x since coming to the shelter(standard practive). He also got ringworm & was given Fulvicin liquid & Cononfite cream daily. He then got a URI & was given liquid clavamox 2x a day for 10 days. He then got triple antibiotic ointment for 7 days, & then Gentak eye drops 3x a day for 7 days. He's been through so much, & him always being ill makes sense with the herpes. His eye literally started bleeding on Saturday evening.

He is going to be so hard to place with herpes, I don't know what the shelter will do with him.
 

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I don't think it's terribly contagious. I've had Polly for about 15 months and she hasn't caught Prego's herpes yet, at least not as far as I can tell.

You will just have to explain to them about it. "herpes" sounds bad because of the association with human herpes, but you will have to explain that it's different.
 
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Another question. I bought some l-lysine to donate from the GNC store here. All they have is tablet form, so I bought the 500mg tablets. Are tablets OK & how much should he be given(he's 5lbs ish?)?
 

purrpaws

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Another question. I bought some l-lysine to donate from the GNC store here. All they have is tablet form, so I bought the 500mg tablets. Are tablets OK & how much should he be given(he's 5lbs ish?)?
Tablets are fine. I give Prego tablets, but I crush them and sprinkle it on his food. Prego gets 500mg a day, but some cats get more. I don't think you can really overdose on it.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Another question. I bought some l-lysine to donate from the GNC store here. All they have is tablet form, so I bought the 500mg tablets. Are tablets OK & how much should he be given(he's 5lbs ish?)?
they're ok, but they are usually crushed & given in wet food. that's why the capsules are easier - no crushing.
dosage-wise, here's what i've found online:
The dosage for a kitten is 250mg per day. Dosage for a cat is 250mg - 500mg per day. The tablets are usually crushed and sprinkled over the cats food.
and i also found this one:
Oral L-Lysine is recommended by many veterinary ophthalmologists at a dose of 250-500 mg twice daily.


 

gizmocat

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I give Gizmo L-lysine in a paste/gel form for her feline herpes. It's a lot easier than dosing her with pills and she eats it almost willingly. A vet should be able to sell this to you and it's not expensive.

Good luck with your little cat..I hope he finds a good home.
 

4crazycats

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My Bagheera has herpes. None of my other cats have it and the vet's never said anything about vaccinating the other cats. I dont even think there is a vaccine for it. His only problem really is his left eye always runs, his nose is always runny but not to nasty and he gets URI quite a bit. But my vet says as they age and get mature they have less problems with it. Bagheera has a bad case of it though.
 
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Originally Posted by gizmocat

I give Gizmo L-lysine in a paste/gel form for her feline herpes. It's a lot easier than dosing her with pills and she eats it almost willingly. A vet should be able to sell this to you and it's not expensive.

Good luck with your little cat..I hope he finds a good home.
The vets here don't carry any. Living in the middle of nowhere stinks sometimes!

So, I think I'll try giving Madison a l-lysine pill tomorrow. I might just give him the whole 500mg for now. Once his symptoms clear up, then we can go to half doses of 250mg.

Just how many cats are infected with herpes? I didn't realize there were so many on TCS alone...
 

4crazycats

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

The vets here don't carry any. Living in the middle of nowhere stinks sometimes!

So, I think I'll try giving Madison a l-lysine pill tomorrow. I might just give him the whole 500mg for now. Once his symptoms clear up, then we can go to half doses of 250mg.

Just how many cats are infected with herpes? I didn't realize there were so many on TCS alone...
I know 2 cats with it. Bagheera and my friends cat Jonas. He's an adult and doesnt have much trouble with it at all.
 

gizmocat

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Try a half pill, 250 mg twice daily is recommended dose for cats. While l-lysine is not reported to have any side effects, there's no need to 'find out' by dosing him too high.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

The vets here don't carry any. Living in the middle of nowhere stinks sometimes!

So, I think I'll try giving Madison a l-lysine pill tomorrow. I might just give him the whole 500mg for now. Once his symptoms clear up, then we can go to half doses of 250mg.

Just how many cats are infected with herpes? I didn't realize there were so many on TCS alone...
you can buy it online.
viralys gel - this is the maple flavored gel i use for Pixel.
viralys powder - you can sprinkle this in food
enisyl-f - this is the one that's supposed to taste good - more expensive, too.
lysine caps - you can take these apart & sprinkle in food.
 
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Originally Posted by gizmocat

Try a half pill, 250 mg twice daily is recommended dose for cats. While l-lysine is not reported to have any side effects, there's no need to 'find out' by dosing him too high.
I put it in the meds book to dose Madison with 250mg(1/2 pill) 2x a day for 10 days, then to re-evaluate. Hopefully this helps him as the vet is still waiting on his other meds. I curshed the pill & put it on his food, but apparently he cannot eat an entire 3 oz can, so he gets 1/2 a 3 oz can 2x a day....what a spoiled kitty(considering he's a shelter cat).
 

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Yrs ago I took a pretty colored kitten from my SIL's barn. This was one sick little boy, He had URI and also herpes. A month after I got him he was getting better but still in rough shape-it took about 4-6 months to clear everything up. My vet did not mention this being contagious to my other cats none of which got sick.
I don't think the herpes should deter that right person looking to adpot a cat.
 
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