Holistic remedies?

History:

Late August/ early September Matt was into the vet with fluid in his lungs, and watery eyes, thick saliva, nasal discharge. Without having access to money at the time to run tests, we went with the vet's assesment that this was likely just a upper respiratory infection and no big deal. He was given antibiotics and sent home.

September 30, almost 2 weeks after finishing the firt run of antibiotics, Matt went back to the vet , again with the fluid, and this time with an eye infection as well. CBC was run, and he had an infection in his bloodstream, but the test to find out what it is would cost us our mortgage payment so we can't run it. He was put on antibiotics, l-Lysene and eye drops. 

Last week, he went in for his Rabies, distemper,FIV vaccines(on vet advice) and seems fine but had the sniffles. I got him a probiotic-Forti-Flora- to help rebuild his immune system. Also switched his kibble to grain free.

Now, he's beginning to get the groany sounds, but after the last 2 months I'm flat out of money. I need to know if there's anything I can do to help him at home, because the vet hasn't been able to do a whole lot  besides bankrupt me, and I'm not ready to say goodbye to him yet...........but I have no money left on my credit cards to tap

I'd really appreciate any advice I can get on rebuilding Matt's immune system. My vet's not helpful-he only gives me meds and doesn't give me information. 

He's doing well right now ; playing with the kitten, eyes bright(but a little 3rd eyelid, which I've read here is not uncommon after an eye infection) good appetite, no fluid in his lungs. I increased hi l-Lysene to the 1/4 tsp 2x daily recommended on the bottle, rather than the pea sized amount the vet recommented so I think that's about 250mg/dose? I want to buy the powder but don't know where?

I don't want him to get ill again, and I don't know much about treating/supporting cats who are/have been ill.  Matt is my first sick cat ever

He has an infection in his bloodstream? Or his blood work revealed a high white blood cell count?

Others here can advise you on the lysine, I've never used it. As far as probiotics, Fortiflora isn't much of a probiotic. There's a great probiotic thread somewhere...maybe PM LDG?

I'm so sorry that Matt isn't feeling well.

Here's a really good thread discussing probiotics. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262587/probiotics-search-human-grade-and-cfus   Quality probiotics would probably be a good thing to add since a good immune system starts with a healthy GI system. The two that are most recommended on this site are the Natural Factors Double Strength (10 billion CFUs) Acidophilus/Bifidus and the Nexabiotic 19 strain.

Lysine does not boost overall immunity. Lysine is helpful if the herpes virus is responsible for the URI/eye issues. It helps prevent the virus from replicating. The NOW brand l-lysine is just pure lysine powder that you can add to his wet food. It seems to be tolerated well. You can find it as most health food stores or online on Amazon pretty cheaply.

peaches08 said:

He has an infection in his bloodstream? Or his blood work revealed a high white blood cell count?

 

Click to expand...

Hmm, now THAT's an interesting question.......the vet showed me his results, and his white cell count was through the roof, but no other abnormalities...which he said meant he was fighting an infection in his bloodstream. so he was put in antibiotics a second time, along with the l-Lysene because we can't afford the $350 to sample his chest and find out what's causing the high white cell count.  He got better again and isn't ill again this time....but I'm afraid, because I have nothing left to tap so I want to do everything I can to keep him strong. He looked good  at the vets on Tuesday, except for sniffles, and even those are not present this afternoon(knock on wood) so we talked about probiotics and agreed that they would likely help and he started them on Tuesday.

I have a month supply of probiotics, and will need to find more by the end of the month,  and probably 2 weeks left on the l_lysene

thanks Vball, I'll go looking to see if I can get one of those brands. Matt has herpes symptoms, but the vet didn't test him because he's an indoor cat. but Something must have clicked, because he's the one that told me to give l-Lysene to Matt. We brought in a stray on August 22nd, not long before Matt got ill. Vet says kitten didn't make Matt sick, but you can't help but wonder......then again Matt was a stray before we got him, too

Poor Matt. I'm so sorry he hasn't been feeling well. I would be worried about the high WBC and internal fluid build-up. They can be a sign of something much more serious that just "the sniffles."

Can you afford to purchase products to help him along? Vetri-DMG is a odorless, tasteless immune booster and can easily be added to wet food or dropped directly into the mouth. Keeping him on the l-lysine will help if he has feline herpes virus or calicivirus.

Keep tabs on that eye, too. If it gets really bad, it needs to be treated. Sometimes vets will prescribe an eye ointment. Did the doc say it was viral conjunctivitis?

He said conjuvitis, but didn't say if it were viral or bacterial. But he did prescribe eye drops, which Matt took like a champ. He's such a good boy about his meds

I can get  products for him, so far he's got the l-Lysene and probiotics. I switched his kibble to grain free and will switch his wet on Thursday( pay is Thursdays you see)

It's not a matter of  not wanting to get him care, but we're a paycheque to paycheque family

I've heard when a cat is having a "herpes episode", it's ok to give up to 1000 mg of L-Lysine per day, so I would think you could actually give him more than what you are giving.  Does your bottle not tell you the mg per 1/4 teas?

Also, have you appled for Care Credit?  Most Vets will accept it, and there is no annual fee or anything, plus rates or better than most charge cards.   It's good to have for emergencies when money is tight

!/4 tsp is 250mg.  I didn't have the bottle handy at the time that I posted what I was giving him, and was trying to remember.

I'll look into Care Credit, it would be good to have. My vet advertises that they have financing options, but when I asked about it, he showed me someone else's bill to illustrate how much cheaper he is compared to other vets, and told me I'd just have to pay. He says Matt needs his teeth cleaned but if they won't let me make some sort of arrangement, then it will have to wait at the very least until a few more pay cheques have gone through the bank-and the car is busted too, but got put off in favor of the cat so something's going to have to give

How's Matt doing?

He's got feline acne now and his eye infection is back. I have his eye drops at home, so I put him back on those, but I;m trying to figure out how best to clear up his chin. If I have to  keep taking him back to the vet, I'll never get together the money to clean his teeth..and I'm almost certain at this point that the unexplained infection in his bloodstream is coming from his bad tooth.

right now I'm washing his chin with a saline solution, but I'd really appreciate tips if anyone knows of them

Hibiclens, available at any pharmacy. Wash his chin with hibiclens.

An alternative, that can be used for both his chin and his eye: colloidal silver. The problem is that you want 500ppm for dabbing the chin, but you want to dilute it down (with distilled water) for an eye wash.

If he's not on 1,000mg of lysine (500mg twice a day), I'd bump him up to that. I also just posted a thread about combining Lysine with Lactoferrin, it's more effective together. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/267703/stubborn-herpes-infection-add-lactoferrin-in-addition-to-lysine

If you shop Amazon, you can order the Jarrow 250mg lactoferrin, and find a 500ppm colloidal silver. I use Amino Acid & Botanical colloidal silver, but I think it only comes in 8 ounces, and that's probably more than you want to spend. There's one by... Natural Path Silver Wings (or something like that) that has 500ppm colloidal silver in smaller sizes.

To use CS on his chin, just soak some into a cotton ball, and dab it on his chin 4 or 5x a day. For Flowerbelle, this cleared her acne up overnight. I use it on myself for just about everything. It is a GREAT topical anti-everything. Really.

To use as an eye wash, you need distilled water and an eye dropper. You need to put 30 eye droppers of distilled water into a sterilized glass bottle (boiled for 10 minutes) and 1 dropper of the 500ppm colloidal silver (for a solution that is about 15ppm colloidal silver). Just drop one or two drops in his eyes twice a day. IF YOU DO THIS, make sure to use two separate droppers, in case you accidentally touch one eye - you don't want that dropper touching the other eye. And boil them for 10 minutes EACH TIME you use them.

FYI, the probiotics daily (best if given 1/2 in the am and 1/2 in the pm), the lactoferrin, and the lysine (each should also be given 1/2 in the am and 1/2 in the pm) should help boost his overall immune system.

Can you pill him? If so, to really give his immune system a boost, you can try Olive Leaf (Oleuropein). It is very bitter, so forget about hiding it in food.

Although I have yet to use CS, I can definitely vouch for the Lysine + Lactoferrin combo. When L-Lysine wasn't enough, LDG recommended the Lactoferrin for Bagel (who had various sneezing, congestion, teary-eye issues). After a month of using the Lactoferrin daily, I can see a huge difference. No more sneezing, at the very least.

Yes, I can pill him. With his multiple runs of antibiotics, we got quite familiar with That little trick lol. 

I have him so far on the probiotics and l-Lysene. I'll look into the other suppliments. the longer I can keep him out of the vet, the faster I can save up for his teeth.  Once they're clean, I expect I'll see an improvement in his health.

I don't know what his teeth issues are, but Bovine Lactoferrin has also been shown to help fight stomatitis in published studies.

It's too bad the vet pushed for vaccinations . I found that when I used to vaccinate frequently, my cats were always mildly sick like that. Nothing life-threatening but certainly annoying. I think vaccines busy the immune system with other things so it can't fight off the little bugs that show up. Or weaken the immune system. Or something. Anyway, overvaccinating causes problems. In the future it may be better to only give the rabies vaccine as required by law.

If you can get some vaccine de-tox, that might help. Something like this: http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/produ...aspx?click=5&gclid=CPCt_rPG27oCFcU5QgodW1cAeg I'm sure you could find some sold for humans at a local health-food store but I don't know if dosing is the same :/.

Probiotics and l-lysine should help a bit. You might also try an immune strengthener like they sell here: http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/search.aspx?avs|Pet+Type=Cats&avs|Health+Condition=Immune+Support

LDG said:

I don't know what his teeth issues are, but Bovine Lactoferrin has also been shown to help fight stomatitis in published studies.

Click to expand...

since I started him on wet food 1 1/2 years ago, his teeth have gotten progressively dirtier-in spite of brushing with CET toothpase. Now He's got visible plaque and tartar, and his gums are red. I wondered if his outbreak of acne was to do with the teeth, but then I noticed his eye is infected too-so I'm thinking this is another complication of the bloodstream infection. Sassy's vet told me that bad teeth allow infection into the bloodstream, so I'm trying to get together the funds to pay for that......but last month he ran the credit card nearly a thousand dollars, so I have to save up for this next visit.