Feline Herpes

I would keep them apart as you were advised by your vet.

Meeko gets that way when she is sick also.
I am glad your cat isnt like that.

If it's stressing your cats out AND if your sick cat is already on antibiotics, I'd go ahead and let them stay together. Deagan's already sneezed and breathed all over Murfie anyway. If Murfie's not showing any signs of being sick, then they're probably fine together. However, you might find that Murfie is sick with the same type of upper respiratory junk in about 2 weeks. It doesn't mean that Murfie has herpes, just that he's caught the viral infection.

The herpes virus lives in the lining of the brain and is triggered mostly by stress, but other things can trigger it as well. Cats that have weak immune systems are most susceptible to catching the herpes virus, although it can be passed to a kitty from its mom. Because herpes weakens your cat's immune system, any time your cat gets sick from any kind of infection, it will take your cat longer to get better. Strengthening your kitty's immune system by providing a good diet is one of the best things you can do to help your kitty stay flare-up free. Also keeping your home as stress-free as possible will help, too.

Lysine is excellent because it interferes with the virus' ability to reproduce during a flare up. When my cat is having a flare up or dealing with some other type of problem (like a bacterial infection right now), I give her 1000mg a day. I buy the NOW brand powdered stuff and give it to her in her wet food. I give her 500mg/2x day. The effects of lysine only last about 8 hours or so, which is why I do twice a day. I started off buying the 500mg L-Lysine tablets at Wal-Mart and crushing them and adding to her food, but that got old real quick, so I switched to the powder. When she's not having any symptoms, I give her 500 mg a day (250mg morning and 250 night). It takes a good month of daily doses to see any positive benefits from the Lysine.

Stephanie

He was prescribed Metacam for pain relief but I have researched it and there is nothing but horror stories about cats dying from this Im scared to give him any more...the most common side effect was renal damage

Metacam is bad and my vet will not give oral.
Coco did have the shot a year ago.
Can you ask for buperprex?
I think I spelled it wrong.
I know of cats that die from metacam.
My brothers cat had surgery a few weeks ago and the vet gave it to him to give Spaz.
It went down the drain after I showed him the site.
Some of the cats in Crf group have kidney failure from metacam.

I am glad you stopped it.
Spaz had 1 dose before my brother put it down the drain.
I sure would hate for yourcat to get sick from a stupid vet.
Make sure he goes to the bathroom soon.

When I first brought my herpes foster cat home, she was in the midst of a flare-up. The cat rescue had said to keep them in separate rooms until the cold clears up and then it'll be safe to introduce my cat to the foster. Well, when I found out it was "herpes", I basically freaked out and contacted a few vets and asked for their opinion.

I know it's just like a cold and usually isn't a big deal since so many cats are carriers already, but I couldn't help it - I didn't like the idea of my cat getting herpes and then me having to deal with it every time he feels stressed.

I was then told that the herpes virus is very contagious, even airborne, and chances were, if my cat was going to catch it (this was 6 days later), he probably would've already had it. He didn't display any symptoms. I stopped being so paranoid after that.

On day 10, the foster came out of quarantine after her cold cleared up with L-Lysine supplementation 2x daily and they were together for one month before she got adopted earlier this week. I wish I didn't spend so much time and energy worrying about it at first because my cat didn't catch it and he's completely fine.

My foster was small, maybe even a tad bit smaller than 4 lbs, and the dosage prescribed to her was 250 mg twice a day (total 500 mg daily). When her cold went away, I kept the maintenance dose at 100 mg twice daily (total 200 mg daily). Basically, I slowly decreased the amount every Sunday until I found out what the minimum dosage was before the runny nose, eyes, sneezing, etc., would start again. Mainly because I always want to take a safe and careful approach to pet care and more is not always better, especially with supplements. I know that Lysine is an amino acid and not supposed to be harmful, but I still wanted to take a more "natural" stance.

firm poop is what you want

The metacam was probably what was making him droopy and it was probably given to help him not scratch his eye from any pain he might be having with that. Glad to hear he's perked up some. You'll know he's feeling better when he starts cleaning himself, eating better, and acting more like his normal self. I forgot, is he having any congestion? If so, you'll want to run a vaporizer or take him into the bathroom with you while you're showering to enjoy a little steam spa. The steam helps the mucous break up which helps him breathe better.

We gave my older cat ONE dose of Metacam a couple of years ago when she first started showing symptoms of arthritis (confirmed by x-rays). I'm pretty sure that's what's caused her kidney issues, but it can't be confirmed. She's not in CRF yet, but she's getting there. I have it in her chart to NEVER give her Metacam unless I specifically give the okay, not my husband, but ME. And I'd only approve it as the very, very, very last resort. Even then, it's iffy.

He is a bit congested so I'll make sure I bring him in the bathroom this morning. He seems like he's back to his normal self now...he went crazy doing what I like to call "zoomies" all over the bedroom for over an hour which is longer than normal!
Im so annoyed a vet would prescribe Metacam and not even make me aware of the possible side effects. I guess Im just lucky I read the pamphlet that came with it which states renal failure can be a side effect