Stubborn herpes infection? Add Lactoferrin in addition to Lysine

ldg · Sep 25, 2014

Thank you for the information!

lisamarie12 · Mar 11, 2015

LDG Lauri, wowser, you should get a gold medal (or at least a gold star)

for having researched and posted this info, wish I had found it sooner for my little FHV guy, thank you! I am in transit and only read about 3 of the 5 pages (not driving, lol) but I see quite a few have had success with lactoferrin. I've had luck with lysine and a mostly raw, commercial diet, however, Mikey isn't 100%, still sneezes and still has some although greatly decreased eye gunk. Lactoferrin may be our icing on the cake, I'm going to order a bottle. I just spent about an hour searching for info on this, i may end up taking it as well lol.... Seriously though, thank you for posting and sharing this. One question: I give both cats a probiotic with their food, guessing it's okay to use with lactoferrin? Many,many thanks....

lisamarie12 · Mar 11, 2015

PS His opthalmologist never mentioned lactoferrin, at one point, he was on three eye meds, about two years ago, one was Interferon but with no success. Lysine helped with flare-ups but gave him loose stools at a higher dose of 500 mg.

silverpersian · Mar 15, 2015

I'll put in one more plug for Polyprenyl immunostimulant. Our FHV cat had recurring severe flare ups, which were somewhat reduced but not eliminated by the lysine and lactoferrin combination I learned about here.

Our vet suggested a course of Polyprenyl. He said sometimes it stimulates the immune system to the point where the flare ups are virtually eliminated. It is expensive - $130 (Or $150?) for a three-week course, so I hesistated. I finally gave in and tried it. We haven't had a single episode since. It has been eight months, including all sorts of stressors - travel, guests, even an unintended introduction to two new cats.

I highly, highly recommend it for anyone with an FHV cat. I should mention that I have continued the lactoferrin and lysine. To quote our wonderful vet: don't fix it if it ain't broken :-)

catzlaff · Apr 20, 2015

Could someone please confirm that this is the correct kind to give to my cat? I see 'human' reviews at the bottom, heh. If it is the wrong one, could you please post a link to the correct one? Thank you!

betsygee · Apr 20, 2015

Catzlaff said:
Could someone please confirm that this is the correct kind to give to my cat? I see 'human' reviews at the bottom, heh. If it is the wrong one, could you please post a link to the correct one? Thank you!

That is the kind I've bought before for my cats.

catzlaff · Apr 20, 2015

I appreciate it!

catzlaff · Apr 27, 2015

I appreciate it

betsygee said:
That is the kind I've bought before for my cats.

Betsy, How much did you give your cats?

betsygee · Apr 27, 2015

I just posted in your other thread. I think I took LDG's advice from this thread:

I am giving my cats 250mg daily, split into two doses, 125mg in the morning and 125mg in the evening. The Jarrow lactoferrin comes in 250mg capsules: easy to open and sprinkle on half a capsule and mix into food.

paw dee · Apr 29, 2015

Several years ago, I took my cat to the vet to be neutered. He came back to me very ill, sneezing badly with a life threatening fever and wouldn't eat. They told me to bring him back, so I did. They said he had 'the normal cat flu, nothing serious and he should be all better with antibiotics and baby cat food in a few days.' They said to leave him there for three days. The bill got very large! During that time my other cats at home suddenly became sick too, so I knew this was contagious and I had had these cats for some time without any medical problems before.

I began to do my own research and I decided to take my other cats to the university hospital. They said there was no such thing as the normal cat flu and they were shocked that a vet told me this. I was advised to do a laboratory test to find out what was wrong with them exactly. The results took over a week, but it confirmed that they had calci virus AND rhino/herpes both. I began treatment with antibiotics (doxy..), lysine, ointments etc. as the university hospital said. It took many weeks for it to clear up enough that I could get my cats to actually eat well and not constantly have symptoms. I nearly lost two of my cats and I called back the clinic that had my neutered boy to tell them what was going on. All they did was reimburse me my money. In fact, they just asked ME if they could, rather insistently. That says a LOT right there. That clinic cost my cats their health and me a lot of money, heartache and years of problems with my cats. It was the worst decision I have ever made to take my male there to be neutered. I thought it was a good place because it was recommended to me by a rescue organization that had used them for many years. It was also very clean looking from the outside and the most expensive one I found. Anyway, because of them, now I have to treat my cats for flare ups.

Some time past and I took them to one vet who said that herpes and rhino are two different things. I asked him to look into that better. I waited in the room. When he came back he said, 'I know this isn't going to have you place much faith in me now, but you are right. They are the same thing and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to continue on with the exam. There will be no charge unless I actually treat your cat.' I was at my whit's end, so I asked him what I should do. He said, he hadn't had any luck with treating URIs. He believed they would take their natural course and be done. One cat had come to him that he was treating and it just continued to get worse until it was near death. As a last resort, he decided to use Pau D' Arco thinking that it would die anyway. After about two days, the cat was almost fully recovered. So he suggested that I try it as it worked with that one cat that didn't respond to any other treatemtns. I did. It has worked for me and my cats. I use it with lysine if I notice a flare up and it DOES work. So I will continue to use it only with flare ups and I will also try the Lactoferrin with it to see how it goes. Anything I can use to speed up recovery is great. I hope this helps!

And just to add, my cats were vaccinated, but they didn't work.

lisamarie12 · Apr 29, 2015

Paw Dee said:
Several years ago, I took my cat to the vet to be neutered. He came back to me very ill, sneezing badly with a life threatening fever and wouldn't eat. They told me to bring him back, so I did. They said he had 'the normal cat flu, nothing serious and he should be all better with antibiotics and baby cat food in a few days.' They said to leave him there for three days. The bill got very large! During that time my other cats at home suddenly became sick too, so I knew this was contagious and I had had these cats for some time without any medical problems before.

I began to do my own research and I decided to take my other cats to the university hospital. They said there was no such thing as the normal cat flu and they were shocked that a vet told me this. I was advised to do a laboratory test to find out what was wrong with them exactly. The results took over a week, but it confirmed that they had calci virus AND rhino/herpes both. I began treatment with antibiotics (doxy..), lysine, ointments etc. as the university hospital said. It took many weeks for it to clear up enough that I could get my cats to actually eat well and not constantly have symptoms. I nearly lost two of my cats and I called back the clinic that had my neutered boy to tell them what was going on. All they did was reimburse me my money. In fact, they just asked ME if they could, rather insistently. That says a LOT right there. That clinic cost my cats their health and me a lot of money, heartache and years of problems with my cats. It was the worst decision I have ever made to take my male there to be neutered. I thought it was a good place because it was recommended to me by a rescue organization that had used them for many years. It was also very clean looking from the outside and the most expensive one I found. Anyway, because of them, now I have to treat my cats for flare ups.

Some time past and I took them to one vet who said that herpes and rhino are two different things. I asked him to look into that better. I waited in the room. When he came back he said, 'I know this isn't going to have you place much faith in me now, but you are right. They are the same thing and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to continue on with the exam. There will be no charge unless I actually treat your cat.' I was at my whit's end, so I asked him what I should do. He said, he hadn't had any luck with treating URIs. He believed they would take their natural course and be done. One cat had come to him that he was treating and it just continued to get worse until it was near death. As a last resort, he decided to use Pau D' Arco thinking that it would die anyway. After about two days, the cat was almost fully recovered. So he suggested that I try it as it worked with that one cat that didn't respond to any other treatemtns. I did. It has worked for me and my cats. I use it with lysine if I notice a flare up and it DOES work. So I will continue to use it only with flare ups and I will also try the Lactoferrin with it to see how it goes. Anything I can use to speed up recovery is great. I hope this helps!

And just to add, my cats were vaccinated, but they didn't work.

That is really very interesting info you are providing Paw Dee regarding Pau D' Arco. I'm sorry you had to go through such an ordeal.

I have not tried the lactoferrin yet with my little FHV guy but I'm very curious about the Pau D' Arco, Mikey has chronic FHV although he has improved quite a bit since I changed his diet (mostly commercial raw and a little canned). I don't have to use much lysine anymore, his eyes have improved but still - he gets a little gunky black discharge from his eyes almost daily. I've tried to reduce "stress" but he's such an anxious little guy, if we have houseguests, that seems to disturb him. I will do a little research on this Pau D'Arco, thanks for the info. Both our cats were vaccinated for this as kittens, his sister is asymptomatic but he started showing signs at about two years old. He actually has not even been tested for FHV, this was the diagnosis from the ophthalmologist, she said the FHV test was "very expensive" and not always reliable.

paw dee · Apr 30, 2015

When the virus is particularly being difficult, I also use Acyclovir. This was suggested to me by a vet. Famvir is another anti viral that is more proven and I have tried it too. I didn't notice that Famvir helped at all. However, I certainly have noticed an improvement with Acyclovir. You need a prescription for this. Now, I've combined Lysine, Pau D' Arco, Acyclovir, and Jarrow's Lactoferrin. One of my cats has responded very well. I'm still waiting on the other one. I wrote the above last night.

This morning, I've noticed a remarkable turnaround in just ONE DAY! The cat I was more worried about is NOW 75% better. The other one is 50% better. I'll also include that I added a probiotic fish oil and coconut oil to improve the immune system and absorption rates. And I will further include that I started to use feline Greenies Pill Pockets to mix the medication in and my cats will eat them like treats. This makes administering painless and easy on the cats. I just have to be careful that another cat doesn't try to steal it.

I went to be last night depressed and scared for my cats. I woke up today finding my cats so much better, full of energy and now I'm delighted with the results.

lovesindia · May 1, 2015

Thank you for this enlightening and very hopeful post. I'm guessing that you're based in the states as you have feline ophthalmologists there. How wonderful!! I'm in the UK and the best I found was a cat specialist vet who swabbed my poor rescue cats eyes and diagnosed FHV. They prescribed metacam - an ibuprofen based drug for flare ups. I'm concerned about the long term effects of the metacam so am delighted with the information you have all shared. I would be grateful if someone could please advise dosages so I'm really clear about it:-
Lysine - what dosage please?
Pau d'arco - what dosage please?
Lactoferrin 125mg am&pm up to 250mg for flare ups
Thank you so very much

jennyr · May 2, 2015

Since none of us are vets, we cannot give detailed medical advice, only explain our own experience so that you may be more knowledgeable when approaching your vet. This is to protect ourselves and our members. With OTC supplements like Lysine, dosages are given on the bottle or package, but we strongly advise that you tell your vet in advance what you are doing. I am totally in agreement with you about the Metacam - it has been linked to kidney failure in the US and is no longer on the FDA list as approved for cats.

lovesindia · May 2, 2015

JennyR said:
Since none of us are vets, we cannot give detailed medical advice, only explain our own experience so that you may be more knowledgeable when approaching your vet. This is to protect ourselves and our members. With OTC supplements like Lysine, dosages are given on the bottle or package, but we strongly advise that you tell your vet in advance what you are doing. I am totally in agreement with you about the Metacam - it has been linked to kidney failure in the US and is no longer on the FDA list as approved for cats.

lovesindia · May 2, 2015

Hi thanks for your reply. I wasn't expecting reply from a vet just hoping for a quick recap - I have 2 toddlers running about and this is a long thread! I'm aware there are dosages on the packets but have briefly read from some posts that different dosages at different times have worked. I'll go back through it all when I have time....hopefully before 2020 haha x

lovesindia · May 2, 2015

Paw Dee said:
When the virus is particularly being difficult, I also use Acyclovir. This was suggested to me by a vet. Famvir is another anti viral that is more proven and I have tried it too. I didn't notice that Famvir helped at all. However, I certainly have noticed an improvement with Acyclovir. You need a prescription for this. Now, I've combined Lysine, Pau D' Arco, Acyclovir, and Jarrow's Lactoferrin. One of my cats has responded very well. I'm still waiting on the other one. I wrote the above last night.

This morning, I've noticed a remarkable turnaround in just ONE DAY! The cat I was more worried about is NOW 75% better. The other one is 50% better. I'll also include that I added a probiotic fish oil and coconut oil to improve the immune system and absorption rates. And I will further include that I started to use feline Greenies Pill Pockets to mix the medication in and my cats will eat them like treats. This makes administering painless and easy on the cats. I just have to be careful that another cat doesn't try to steal it.

I went to be last night depressed and scared for my cats. I woke up today finding my cats so much better, full of energy and now I'm delighted with the results.

Hi paw dee that is great news. Can you please let me know how much pau d'arco you gave? Hoping my cats poor eye will respond so he can get on with his happy cat life x

jennyr · May 2, 2015

I am not familiar with pau d'arco, but I have looked it up and I see it is a herbal treatment derived from tree bark, that is used by some alternative medical practitioners to treat some cancers and also as a fungicide. But in higher doses it can cause internal bleeding and in its use as a fungicide it is applied externally. As with all medicaments and supplements it is important to get the right dose, depending on age, weight, and severity of the condition. So I personally would not use it without some qualified advice from someone who knows your cat's medical history.

jcat · May 2, 2015

JennyR said:
Since none of us are vets, we cannot give detailed medical advice, only explain our own experience so that you may be more knowledgeable when approaching your vet. This is to protect ourselves and our members. With OTC supplements like Lysine, dosages are given on the bottle or package, but we strongly advise that you tell your vet in advance what you are doing. .

JennyR said:
I am not familiar with pau d'arco, but I have looked it up and I see it is a herbal treatment derived from tree bark, that is used by some alternative medical practitioners to treat some cancers and also as a fungicide. But in higher doses it can cause internal bleeding and in its use as a fungicide it is applied externally. As with all medicaments and supplements it is important to get the right dose, depending on age, weight, and severity of the condition. So I personally would not use it without some qualified advice from someone who knows your cat's medical history.

It's important to keep in mind that "natural remedies" can and often do have side effects, too.

lovesindia · May 8, 2015

his eye is now almost totalky better. It has taken 3 weeks and some days better than others but it really has worked for him. I'm so happy I found this discussion or my lovely boy car would still have a sore eye x

Stubborn herpes infection? Add Lactoferrin in addition to Lysine

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