Feline Herpes virus and famciclovir

My 14-week old kitten (who's never shown any signs of feline herpes) and my two 7-year old cats (who both have been sick with sneezing and eye infections due to feline herpes) take Viralys (one 500 mg rounded scoop) every other day. When I first brought them home from the shelter, all three were on Viralys daily for 30 days.

jlc20m   

My senior (16 years old) cat has had eye ulcers for over 6 months now. First, we tried Tobramycin drops and later added Gentak ointment. Her eye ulcers improved, but didn't heal. After doing research, I wondered if she had the herpes virus because 2x a year it seemed as if she had a cold - runny nose, sneezing, crusty eyes and slept a lot. At one point a vet thought she might have allergies. The symptoms seemed to appear when pollen was high in springtime and again during February when mold tends to be higher, so I went along thinking it could be allergies all those years. Last February she appeared to have a "cold" or "allergy flair up" again, but the eye crustiness never got better and instead became much worse. That's when the eye ulcers were discovered. We added Viralys powder to her food and at first she would eat it, then she stopped, so I quit giving it to her because we need her to eat. A couple of weeks ago I took her to an opthamologist who discovered a UTI infection. Vet gave her an antibiotic shot, put her on 250mg of Famciclovir 1x day, and Erythromycin eye ointment. At first she took the pill without trouble, then she became very testy about it. I tried the Viralys again and she tolerated it in her food. Now I am dissolving the  Famclovir in a small amount of water and adding to a small amount of food. She will eat it. She gets the pill in the morning and the other in evening.

In addition, she has hyperthyroidism which has been under control for the past year and stage 2 kidney disease. I realize this is the beginning of the end of a long well lived life. She has gone from 10 pounds to 6-7 in the past 24 months (hence needing her to eat), but her weight has held steady since the thyroid got under control and she has even gained a 1/2 pound back. She seems quite a bit better after the shot for the UTI! 

The eye ulcers remain stubborn, no improvement, but not worse either. What do Eye See Clearly drops do? Has anyone had luck with them in this kind of situation? Also, has anyone else tried the Patanol drops?

CatMom10 seems to have quite a bit of experience with situations similar to mine. I am looking for more ideas. 

Our 15 yr old Himalayan male cat Noah has suffered with snotty sneezing, eye infections, lethargy many times over the years. He was usually treated with antibiotic eye drops and oral antibiotics. Last summer while we were on vacation he developed a large sore on his nose and his eye did not respond to the normal treatment but instead worsened and became ulcerated. (yes they get worse under stress of mommy and daddy being gone) Fortunately we had a very capable pet sitter who took him to the vet. He was diagnosed with herpes virus. He was given Tobramycin drops for his eye and Famciclovir 500mg 1/4 tab twice daily. Well Noah was not a pill taker and I didn't know how we could get it down him! Our pet sitter showed me her tricks. She puts the quartered pill in a gel cap that is cut down to size. The gel cap makes it easier to swallow, no nasty pill taste either. Then you get him in a position from behind where he can't get away. She sat with him between her knees but I do it on the counter. Coming from behind, I pry open his mouth and stick the pill so far down the throat he can do nothing but swallow! he hardly knows what happened! I give him lots of love after since he doesn't like treats. The Famciclovir works great for him. I keep a prescription on hand so that I can catch a flair up in the early stages so he doesn't have to get so sick.

Hi Noah's mom. How long does it take for the Famciclovir to work? I started my girl on a quarter tab twice daily, and she has had five doses now. I was hopeful that the sneezing would have stopped by now, but she is still sneezing. This is her first bout with herpes. We don't know what brought it on. She's a year old and was rescued as a stray living outside when she was a young kitten.

My experience is similar to yours. My cat has eosinophilic keratitis (in remission) related to feline herpes. My feline ophthalmologist recommended the famciclovir as more effective and it seems to work but then so does the l-lysine I have used.

hi i was very happy to read your story it is incouraging... my cat has ulcer and congitivite i was prescribe drops but impossible to do, then the gave me famvir , can you give me a trick on how to give the pill without forcing it in her mouth...i tried cruching the pill in her food sometime it works sometime not then in just the juice of the wet food, it works sometimes ...any other idea i could use because they say that stress is a big factor in feline herpes and i'm trying to minimise as much as possible stress...tks for your advise ...ps sorry for my mispelling my first language being french

Hi gypsie21 and welcome to TCS!

There are quite a few threads here on pilling cats and I'm sure you'll get some ideas.
For eg: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242090/pilling-a-difficult-cat

This article is very interesting too:
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=pillingcats

Hi and bienvenu! If you are in France your pharmacist can order Enisyl - mine did, and it has transformed the life of my Wellington. Other forms of Lysine are difficult to get here. Enisyl is a paste and easy to give to a cat.

tks for the info ...tried tonight to put her half pill of flamcicovir in her treat of lysine ..because there are moist i separated in half and squeeze it in one part then put the other half of the treat to make one again , gave her 2 lysine treat and then the one with the pill inside and it worked she gooble it without knowing and then gave the last two ....ouff!!!! what an ordile to find the right trick ! she's not a big eater , not even with wet food ...... hope it will work again tomorrow ......

Hi, I'm from Itay and I'm desperately looking for other people dealing with the damned feline herpes virus.

My ten-month-old has runny and swallen eyes. We started yesterday a tablet of 125 mg of famvir (very very expensive) and two doses of 500 mg of lysine chewing tablets.

He's letargic, doesn't eat much but is often drinking.

I've also been treating his eyes with acyclovir ointment five times a day for a week, but without any results. Maybe I'll switch to idoxuridine.

My vet opthalmologist prescribed ofloxacin drops for my cat's eyes when he starts squinting at the start of a herpes virus outbreak. It has been very effective.

How many times a day?
 

I too have a cat-registered Persian-that has had the herpetic lesions on his eyes. He had 2 eye surgeries to remove the part of the lesions. This year, once again had a lesion on one eye that he had to have an eye graft. Thankfully...........he healed, graft took and no problems o of that eye.  NOW......the OTHER eye has another lesion and will take him to the feline ophthalmologist Monday for a check and will prob have to have the patch on THAT eye!!!!!!!!!! We use the powdered Lysine daily on his food. Maybe it helps from other problems...........but not much with his eyes. I will ask the Dr. about the feline version of Famvir. I just read some articles on Feline Herpes. I had NO idea I had a potentially "sickly" baby!!!!!!!!  I lost 1 of my furry babies about 2 years ago to FIV......after he was stressed from losing the Female cat he adored!! He gave up.......and I guess his immune system or lack of it...took over. He died about 6 months to the day after the female cat.

I can't imagine losing another furry baby!!!!!  If any one has any other suggestions........to control the herpetic episodes-ophthalmic-please let me know so I can ask my Feline eye specialist!!!

Hi Ghendrix.

There are lots of people on this site looking after FHV 1 cats and many of the threads in the health forum contain information. I joined a few weeks ago after reading this thread (among others) in search of advice.  Among others, Stephanietx and LDG have posted some really helpful stuff and I hope they see you inquiry.  The main things to try seem to be L Lysine and probiotics and there's lots of specific information about how they work and dosages.  LDG recently posted quite specific information for me in my thread 'Looking to add food to TD kibble only diet, advice please'.

My Russian Blue boy has had some problems with runny eyes but thankfully no lesions causing concern or need for surgery (yet). He had a load of oral problems that gave him lots of pain before that.  My vet recently prescribed 2 weeks of Famciclovir tablets for a flare up with runny eye but has said he would not want to use it long term or on regular basis as it is such a powerful drug. (Much to my relief as it cost a fortune).  I'm looking at the L Lysine to block the virus a bit and boosting the immune system hoping these can offer a less toxic means of improving my boy's health. I have learned loads since coming on to this site and hopefully my Mouse will benefit from this.

Good luck. I really hope you find something to help.

My girl kitty Ellie has a horrible infection and although I have been giving her L-Lysine and Terramycin it wasn't getting better.  The vet gave me a prescription for Famcyclovir to use only if the ofloxacin drops she gave me don't help.  After looking around on this site, it seems that if I have to use the Famir that it may work.  I called around and Costco has it the cheapest at $31.74 for 14 pills (you don't need to be a member either).  Thank you to the woman who previously posted (that's why I called them).

My cat is taking Famciclovir three times/day. My vet called into Wal Mart and found the pills would be $113.00 for 14 days worth. Then she called the local Pharmacy and they were $35.00, so shop around before paying so much. I have to use a splitter for correct dosage. A 500mg pill get split into fourths. I crushed the first dose and put it in kittys wet food with a bit of real tuna liquid. He ate it. Tried that for the second dose and he wouldn't touch it because he wanted his dry food (of course!) So, I popped a pill down his throat (not fun.) The vet said to put a little butter around the pill to make it easier. I really dislike the thought of doing this 3 times a day for at least 2 weeks!

He also has to have the oral paste of Ennisyl-F, which he tolerates when I smush some lightly on his nose/mouth area so he can lick it off. I paid $40.00 for it at the vets and have since found it on Amazon for $16.00.

Just once a day.

When Mouse had Famciclovir prescribed it was once a day as well. I can't remember the dose but the tablet size was halved at the vets before I got them so it was the correct amount for a cat.

I am going through the same kind of anxiety with my Tonkineze cat Witten.  He has had an eye ulcer for 2 months now that has not improved  yet with ndifferent treatments, but 5 days ago I started the oral famciclovir and am hoping to see some improvement, but not yet.  I am surprised that no one on this site has heard of PILL POCKETS.  I got them at my vet's.  You simply put the pill inside according to directions and the cat actually eats it like a treat!  In all the aggravation of treating my cat this is the one bright light.  You can buy these online if your vet does not have them.

Hi  I have had my kitty to 4 vets.  I also went to a ophthalmologist. Finally I found a way to keep it pretty much under control.  I give him onsior to control the pain.  My vet feels the stress from the pain causes the virus to stay active.  Onsior is a non steroid anti-inflammatory and really helps him.  I give it to him when he needs it.  I have him on a 1/4 pill a day right now.  I try taking him off but sometimes he need to go back on.  This is a terrible disease.  I hope this helps your kitty.

Debbi