Feline herpes??

My Torrie has feline herpes, she always seems to have a cold.
I take her to the vet all the time, he gives her a steriod shot and antibiotics.
The shot is not lasting as long as it use to. Her nose is so stuffy and she always sneezes, she has green discharge from her nose.
I wonder if anyone knows of a pill/liquid medication i can give her on a daily basis to help her out. I am giving her 500mg of Lysine daily(started 2 days ago) but is there anything else I can do.
I was told to try "little noses" ...but she would not cooperate at all.
She has been tested for all the kitty diseases , they all were negative.
She is up to date on all shots,
I am not sure what else I can do...I know sometimes she is miserable with this stuffy nose.
Any suggestions????

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.

My vet did not do any test on her, he told me she was...she has been like this since I fostered her at 2 weeks old. I reluctantly gave her back to be adopted...and visited her at the humane society each day until she was adopted. I really regreted giving her back and promised that if i ever came across her again, she was comming home with me. 2-3 months later.......
Guess What!!! I took back a bunch of kittens I was fostering and looked in the corner of the room at a new cage that had not been there before. I could not beleive my eyes..there she was in a cage with another cat that got adopted with her. At first they told me I had to adopt them both...I stayed there for hours until i got her cagemate adopted and was willing to pay any amount to get her back with me. After several hours of totally annoying them, they gave in and Torrie came home with me. I know this is a long silly story but I love to tell it. Anyway...she has had flare-ups alot..I really think its the weather here...some days its hot and humid and then rainy and chilly..thats when i notice her getting bad again. I will try the bathroom thing and ask the vet for the test.
Thanks for the information for my baby girl

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.

My Tobias, a 7 year old British Shorthair was diagnosed with Feline Herpes a year ago.  Where did he pick this up, who knows, but I have to admit I did not stay current of his vaccines since he was strictly a indoor kitty.  Now I know better!  I purchased a new British Shorthair the year Tobias got sick (actually 2 months before) so the vet said it might have triggered his disease.  New kitty shows no signs of anything but I have not tested him yet.

On the initial occurrence, he was under the care of a wonderful emergency vet here in New Orleans since it was after hours and I was so worried about him.  Coughing, sneezing, runny eye and breathing through his mouth.  He was kept there for 2 days then released with meds of:  2 ML Famciclovir twice a day for 2 weeks and Cidofovir eye drops 2x day.  He had not quite cleared up at my 2 week follow-up so he was kept on all meds for another 2 weeks.  At this point all seemed great and he looked good and when I went in for my last follow up I learned he had developed a ulcer on his eye and I was referred to a eye specialist. 

Tobias is now under the care of a eye specialist who has him on the above regimen, but added Tobramycin eye drops 4x a day and 1000mg of Optixcare L-Lysine Chews (2 treats a day).  She is a young vet, only does "Eyes", and seems to have done extensive training in this.  She said the new regimen for L-Lysine is 1000 mg which I don't think many people know.  She de-bries  his eye (scrapes with q tip), and I'm back on all my regimens for 2 weeks.   Last time the ulcer went away nicely, but right after x-mas it came back and we are having a bit more of a challenge healing it.  She scraped his eye again and put what she calls a "Patch" on his eye which is basically a contact lens.  Again, my whole medication regimen is continued for another 2 weeks and we shall see at this follow up if it has cleared up.

I have been beside myself of "how" and what am I doing wrong with my precious cat.  I read, search, talk to my vet and it simply baffles me that there is no cure for this. 

I get my Famciclovir from Diamond Back Drugs, a compounding pharmacy and selected chicken flavor which he likes.  Your vet can call this into Diamondback.  It works well when I see the onset of runny eyes and sneezing but you MUST do it for 2 weeks or the eye specialist said I would be wasting my time.

Tobias is a calm, gentle kitty and while I thought he was not a stressful cat, he must be.  I had some family over at Christmas and a day and a half later the ulcer is back.  All I hear is that this disease can flare up with the slightest cause of "Stress" so I suppose it's true.  Once I heal his eye, I am going to do my best not to have any guest over and see what happens.  Trial and error to grasp what is triggering these ulcers.

Hope this helps and do feel free to ask any questions since I seem to be paying a fortune these days with vet bills!  Wish I would have gotten pet insurance.  

[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]I feel your pain.

I highly recommend giving an L-Lysine supplement.

Kelby and Jeremiah both have Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis.

My vet told me to give them both L-Lysine.

Ask your vet about the dosage.

It was about a year ago that Kelby and Jeremiah were diagnosed with FVR.