Using & Purchasing L-Lysine in cats w/ herpes?

My Balki appears to have mild chronic herpies, although he never had this confirmed. He gets mild conjunctivitis every now and again to which doesn't respond to various eye medications. In fact, the medications just seem to make his eyes more red, irritated and increases the discharge. The vet says don't bother w/ medication unless it becomes worse or more bothersome to him. Basically what happens is that he both his eyes get slight yellow discharge, and redness. Within 24-48 hours untreated that is, it goes away completely. This happens about once per month.

Instead, the vet has been doing research on using L-Lysine to reduce virus shedding at 400mg once per day. I know this is also used frequently in people w/ herpies, cold sores etc. The only strength I have found is 500mg at CVS. They are huge tablets and I don't want to pill him daily if I don't have to. I say this also because I can hide medication crushed up in his canned food very easily. He is stark raving mad over food!

So I was wondering if anyone has experience w/ L-Lysine, and where do you purchase the appropriate strength? Also, can you find one that can be easily put into a cat's food for convenience and to avoid the stress and struggle of manually pilling a cat? This is still new to the vet, and she hasn't had much experience w/ it yet. She said to try a health food store.

Thanks!

Hi,

Forgive my slightly shakey memory on this, but my Mervat <rb> was diagnosed with this in one eye, and we did find Lysine in gel caps, I believe the strength was 500 mg, and I'd open and give her half , 250 mg. worth, mixed into her wet food. I do believe you can find it at a health food store, or an online store you trust, in this form.

best wishes to your kitty, I believe it did help Miss Merv.

I actually put it in the food just as an additive a few times a week. I used the 500 MG pills, but what I did is measured out what one pill would be once I put it through the food processor and turn it into a fine powder. It's about 1/4 tsp. I just sprinkle it on the dry food, and at the end of the day, it's gone. I figure some of it's going to end up stuck to the bowl or at the bottom, so I am not concerned about using the 500 MG pills.

Ok, I'll see what I can find. If I can find a capsule, to which is already in a powder, that will be my first preference.

Thanks!

I do cat rescue and I come across this probleme a lot. Lysine is very good for that problem. It is an amino acid and won't hurt your kitty if you give her a little more then recommended. I crush the pills and put it in a shot glass with water then heat the water in the micro for about 15 seconds. It desolves the pill, then I suck it up with a syringe and give it to anyone with that problem. Also, a wonderful, but expensive, eye drop solution you can use is idoxuridine. I used terimiacine on one of my kittens and it didn't do any good. The eye was very swollen and I thought I would have to have eye surgury for the kitten. I started using idoxuridine one morning, by that evening the swelling was compleatly gone. By the next morning I could see the pupel. I had'nt seen it in about a week. Good luck with your kitty.

What is the strength for the idoxuridine eye drops? Where did you buy it? Thanks, Cynthia

emmacyn said:

What is the strength for the idoxuridine eye drops? Where did you buy it? Thanks, Cynthia

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Cynthia, welcome to TCS. Just wanted to point out that this thread is from 2003. It's unlikely that anyone who posted here before will be seeing your post. It would be a good idea for you to start a new thread on the topic.

My cat Inky currently has an eye problem and when I was at the vet yesterday I got a bag of cat treats with lysine in them (rather expensive though) she can have 6/day with up to 12 now during her eye problem. (along with antibiotic and steroid eye drops).

To be effective, Lysine needs to stay in your kitty's system, so break up the dose into 2 times a day.  I give Hannah 500mg twice a day and Tumbles gets 250mg twice a day.  The lysine is shed in urine, so it's important that you do it twice a day to see any long-term positive effect.  We give the powdered variety (1/4 teaspoon equals 250mg) and mix it into wet food.