Hannah Has Herpes & a Question

stephanietx

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Not that I haven't suspected this since we got her 2 years ago, but my doctor did the test on her a week ago and it came back positive for Herpes. She's been taking Lysine daily since we got her, but there are times when she'll have flare ups like when the weather changes (she also has airborne seasonal allergies) and any stressful situations. She's just getting over an URI from her trip to the vet a week and a half ago.

I've done much reading online the past week regarding herpes and know about the benefits of lysine. Are there any other things I can give her to boost her immune system? Also, with herpes, does this mean she'll have a harder time fighting off URI and such?

She's eating Merrick wet and Royal Canin dry.

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Stephanie
 

pussy_cat

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Hi,
I have a cat with feline herpes. Apparently most cats have it but only few don't have strong enough immune systems to "handle it". My cat is like yours and he is on L-Lysine twice daily for life. He is doing well on it but before he was on it he was suffering URI's constantly!!! He has an extreme flat face. Cats with the flatter faces seem to get reoccuring URI's... maybe they just never fully get over them?!

My vet told me that herpes is so common that most cattery's even have atleast one cat with it and if they tell you any different that they are either REALLY lucky or lying. The amount of cats with herpes has gone up dramtically over the years and now approximately 80%-90% of cats have it (my vet feels closer to 90%). It is especially common in multi cat house holds, shelters, catteries, etc.

My cat is taking 2ml twice daily of the L-Lysine and is truly doing well. I do notice he occasionally get boughts of conjunctivitis but eye antibiotics clears that up pretty quickly. He has been on many types of antibiotics and so far the L-Lysine has been doing the best job of keeping the URI's away.
 

cloud_shade

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If she gets a stubborn URI, you might ask your vet about interferon alpha. It helped my Odo when lysine just wasn't enough. Also, sometimes boosting the amount of lysine during a time of acute infection can help.
 
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stephanietx

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Normally, she gets 500 mg/day. Since she started sneezing, I upped it to 1000 mg/day. When she got all yucky after going to the vet, I upped it even more to about 1500 mg/day.

I'm pretty sure my older cat, Callie, also has herpes, but has either a stronger immune system or a lesser case of Herpes.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by stephanietx

Normally, she gets 500 mg/day. Since she started sneezing, I upped it to 1000 mg/day. When she got all yucky after going to the vet, I upped it even more to about 1500 mg/day.

I'm pretty sure my older cat, Callie, also has herpes, but has either a stronger immune system or a lesser case of Herpes.
That's exactly what I've been doing with my Muddy for the last 3 years. He's about 13 pounds and my vet said I could actually go as high as 2500mg a day during bad flare ups. The other tactic that I use with him is to keep his stress at a minimum.

Knock on wood, the Lysine has kept bad URI's away from him, but his eye gets grungy from time to time. The vet keeps a close eye on it, and claims that whatever I'm doing, its working.
 

kittkatt

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I haven't had any experience with feline Herpes, but I do have two cats who have the dry form of FIP, and are on the Interferon treatment for it and are doing really well.
As Cloudshade mentioned, you might want to mention that option to your vet..

I hope your kitty gets better!

~KK~
 
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stephanietx

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What's interferon?

Stephanie
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by stephanietx

What's interferon?

Stephanie
It's a medicine that is used to help with auto immune diseases. My vet won't prescribe it as she claims it isn't approved in the U.S., but I understand that it is used in Europe, and if you really want to go that route, you can obtain it in the states. Like any medication, it works great for some and not as great for others.
 
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