Feline herpes??

I didn't know you lived at my house! My little Hannah Grace is herpes positive and is currently having a flare up with flinging snot, stuffy nose, and congestion. Several trips to the vet over the past several months haven't really cleared up the infection.

First of all, do you know for sure she's herpes positive? If not, ask the vet to run the Feline URD PCR Panel on her. It's a quick and painless nasal swab type test and takes about 3 or 4 days to get the results back from the lab. IIRC, it tests for:

Chlamydophila Felis pcr,
Feline Calicivirus pcr,
Herpesvirus 1 pcr,
Bordetella pcr, and
Mycoplasma Felis pcr

We've found that steaming the kitty in the bathroom helps tremendously. Start your shower and let the bathroom get nice and steamy, bring kitty into the bathroom with you and shut the door. Stay in there until the steam dissipates. The steam will help loosen the snot and will most likely cause your cat to sneeze, but that's pretty much the only way to get the gunk out.

Providing a low stress environment helps, too. I run Feliway diffusers constantly in my home. I've noticed that when they run out (& I'm not paying attention to them) that Hannah will start sneezing again. We're also doing some things with her diet to help boost her nutrition and immune system. Our new vet recommended adding the feline formula of Missing Link to her food as well as some raw meat to her existing wet food.

There's lots of information here if you search for Herpes or Feline Herpes. In addition, there's lots of helpful information & people at the Yahoo Feline Herpes Group as well. Here's the link to the group's home page:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/felineherpes/

L-lysine can make a significant positive difference in her health if she has herpes but it can take a month+ of using it before you see results. SO keep giving it to her.

I have two with that same problem. Lysine is helpful. I also think they need to take it awhile before you notice improvement. We use the Feliway and try to keep stress down. Keeping them in a set routine helps with the stress factor at my house.

Last thought is nutrition. The vet encouraged me to keep them on a good quality food to help keep them as healthy as possible. I try to feed mostly grain free wet with dry grain free during the night hours.

Hope things are better soon.

My vet told me to use L-lysine just in case Holly is positive. But, thats all they suggested. Anyway, I also use Feliwway (ran out a bit ago, and nothing has happened...), and feed a really good food EVO. She still sneezes, and has a tiny bit of eye gunk some days, but seems fine.

I agree on the shower steaming, and it may take some time to see any results. Hope she feels better!

I don't know how big your kitty is, but ask your vet if you can up her L-Lysine dose. My vet has told me my Jordan has F.H. He's only had a couple flare ups in his life, but when it happens it's bad. My vet has told me based on his weight he can get 1000 mg daily & 1500 mg while in a flare up. So talk to your vet to see if you can up her daily dose of L-Lysine that may help.