Virus - inflamed gums in several cats.

I am so scared for my cat(s), and therefor I found my way here, looking for answers.

Around the tenth of may my Kitty (thats her name), a 2 year old female housecat, stopped eating. I took her to the vet and we disovered her gums were so so red and swollen. She got a shot of painkillers, and antibiotics. The gum became slightly better over the next week, but it did not clear up. She therefor got antibiotics pill. these did nothing for her (as opposed to the shot, that did a little). I use antibacterial gel on her gums every day, but it doent seem to help.
 

Around the very beginning of june, I discovered my Abyssian, also har red and inflamed gums. around the 20th of june, i discovered that also my other 2 year old housecat, and the twelw year old, also has it.

None of the other three has it as bad as Kitty.

The vet thinks it it som sort of virus. Seem like a fair asumption i suppose. Whats the chances of them all getting plaque allergy, og FORL in the same month? They are all clean from plaque anyway. Th abyssian is on allergymedication from other types of allergy, and that counts against this beeing an allergic reaction.

Since the ab isnt really doing much, we are left with the thought of virus, and it really scares me.

They are all vaccinated.

Does anyone here have any eperience with gum inflamation/infection due to virus? This is obviously something contageous, that is likely to burst out in several cats all at once.

Im also wondering alot about the prognosis of the cats to recover and get well from such a virus, in a home with 4 cats.

Just to point this is red an inflamed gums, no ulcers on either of them as of today.

(I apologize for any spelling mistakes, Im not an englis speaker, bu doing my best )


Hoping someone has some experiences or knowledge to share.


Edit: Also, what is this l-lysine i read about alot here on these forums? And where do you get it?

Thank you

I don't have any idea what the virus might be, but I CAN help with your question about L-Lysine, which many people use to help boost their cats' immune systems.  You can even purchase it at Walmart (although where you live you may not have Walmart).  Do you have access to Amazon.com.  Well, anyway, here is a thread that discusses brand names of different L-Lysines, and where to buy it, and how to administer it:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239337/where-do-you-buy-your-l-lysine

Does your vet not have any ideas as to what this might be and how to resolve it?  Could he try consulting with some Veterinary Schools around the country to see what they are seeing?

That certainly is strange. 

Well, I have a cat with stomatitis (a mouth condition which is like really inflamed gums) so I've done a bit of reading on possible viruses and bacteria that can contribute.  Calici virus and feline herpes virus can be a factor...with calici being more associated with poor gum health.  Those are both viruses associated with cat colds (upper respiratory infections) so I'd wonder if that is really it if you haven't seen sniffles, sneezing or eye problems (the eye drainage being more associated with the herpes virus.)  L-lysine fights the herpes virus specifically.  So if it helps that tells you that you are dealing with that virus.  We buy ours from amazon, viralys brand powder that you sprinkle on food.  (We use it not for the gum problems but because our cats have had some upper respiratory infections probably related to the herpes virus.  But I figure it could help with the gums too since we don't know if there is a virus contributing to that.)

But, I would also ask the vet about Bartonella.  It is a bacteria that can be a factor in gum disease, especially in young cats or cats that have been exposed to fleas.  Here's one article about bartonella...

http://www.petside.com/condition/cat/bartonellosis-feline

Gum problems can have sooo many factors contributing that it can be really frustrating to figure out.  It is really impossible, in my experience, to pursue every avenue of treatment and rule out every possible contributing factor.  The best possible nutrition you can manage is important, in my opinion.   Food additives can also be a factor. 

One of my three cats had red inflamed gums at his annual checkup. He was eating so the inflammation was probably not as severe as the case with your cats.

He had an antibiotic for a month.

I feed him (and my other two cats) L-Lysine. It is available wherever vitamins are sold. I split a 500 mg. pill in half. One dose in the morning - crush and mix with canned food. Other dose in evening - crush and mix with wet food.

I also feed him a raw chicken gizzard a few times a week. Gizzard is the muscular organ that in live chickens contains pebbles the birds peck up to help grind their food. Chewing the raw gizzard is good for his gums. He very much enjoys eating it.

Hope this is of some help. Also hope your cats recover.

Is there a difference between L-lysine and lysine? Will this boost their immunesystem to fight any sort of virus (say calici) or is this nly helpfull if it turns out to be herpes?

I will look in to this bacteria mentioned. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for all your replies. Im so worried for them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/L-Lysine-10...auty_Vitamins_Supplements&hash=item519c850d3a

Is this a valid option for cats? Or does it need to be spesifically for pets?

Sorry abut all these wuestions, but this is so new to me.

Will this boost their immunesystem to fight any sort of virus (say calici) or is this nly helpfull if it turns out to be herpes?

Click to expand...

My vet says it only fights the herpes virus.  It inhibits something that the herpes virus needs to multiply.  You will see it mentioned as boosting the immune system but that is not quite accurate according to my vet...just helps with the herpes virus.  But the herpes virus is very common in cats and l-lysine (sometimes called lysine for short) is cheap and harmless to try.  So if the lysine helps, you know you were dealing with the herpes virus.  (There is a test the vet can do to see if there is herpes or calici present, but we haven't done it.) 

I've seen several people mention giving their cats the l-lysine sold for humans.  You just want to make sure there aren't any additives or preservatives that could be harmful to cats.  I've always just used one sold for pets because it is easy and inexpensive and they like the taste on their food.  Here's the one we use....


Now that I'm using it for 4 cats, I buy an even bigger jar that is more economical. 

And there came the first sign of anything else then gum issues - Yellow "goo" (again pardon my english) from the eyes of two of them...

Yellow "goo" (again pardon my english) from the eyes of two of them..

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That is very typical of feline herpes.  I'd definitely give l-lysine a try.