herpes virus in cats

hello, my kitty has had a nasty looking lesion on her cheek and a squinty eye for over two months...recently the vet has diagnosed her as having the herpes virus- she doesn't sneeze though. the lysine supplement has not been very effective so i asked the vet for an anti viral drug for her and we got the famciclovir.

my question is, would this lesion disappear eventually with the lysine alone (but it's been over two months)? and any side effects when giving this drug to cats? thanks!!

Welcome to TCS!  I also have a herpes positive kitty and though she doesn't get the lesions, she does get nasty sinus infections if we don't keep the herpes under control.

Is the lesion on her jaw?  I'm trying to picture the site in my head.  What are you feeding her?  How much lysine are you giving her? 

I have never given my herpes girl famciclovir as it wasn't around when she was diagnosed many years ago.  Instead, we changed our girl's diet, added lysine and evening primrose oil, and worked to decrease the stress level in our house.

the lesion is just under her eye, which also seems to be affected by the virus, she squints a lot. sometimes the lesion is dry and looks like it's healing but then when she grooms herself she opens it up and it's raw and oozing fluid.

i started giving her, and her sister sky, vetri-science lysine treats, one treat twice a day. it helped sky for her eyes but not blue for the lesion.

both cats are fed mostly raw, chicken, chicken hearts, egg yolks, sardines, and wellness chicken canned food, two teaspoons of grain free dry food-just as a treat.

both cats stay indoor, have lots of play and cuddle time, seem pretty happy, very little stress.

i've convinced the vet to prescribe her the anti-viral as it's not really improving... the vet even wrong diagnosed her with a bad tooth but i did some research and connected the dots and the vet agreed with me that it might be herpes. but she didn't do any tests...

Herpes does cause lesions, but usually they are around the mouth.  The lesion isn't spreading or anything is it?  Do you give her an antihistamine?  That might help.  Also, I give my girl pure evening primrose oil to help decrease inflammation.  You might have the vet culture a specimen from the lesion just to see what's going on.  It's good that she's already on a grain free diet.  How much lysine is in the treats?

if i read it right it's 250mg per two treats...i give her two treats a day...she also has feline acne, the one with dry black crusty spots on her chin so i was thinking of an elimination diet, but her food is pretty clean, she eats raw rabbit and raw chicken, and canned chicken...can it be too much chicken? when she had a surgery in may and was given antibiotics her "crusties" improved a lot.  but in nov she developed this lesion...i also found that sporotrichosis produces similar lesions...but she's only been outside on supervised leashed walks in my backyard...why antihistamine?

You need to boost the lysine to 1000mg a day (500mg two times a day).  I recommended the antihistamine to help decrease the scratching in case you're dealing with an allergic reaction.  My guess is that something in the canned food is irritating her since she's used to raw.  Sometimes kitties have problems with processed chicken.  Do you use ceramic, glass, metal, or plastic bowls?  If you're using plastic, switch to either glass, metal, or ceramic.  The plastic can scratch and develop germs that can cause the acne.  If you're using ceramic, glass, or metal, be sure to thoroughly wash the bowls in hot, soapy water to get rid of the germs.  My herpes girl gets acne on her chin if her bowls are washed regularly OR if she's stressed out.  Do you run a Feliway diffuser in your home?  That might help with the acne.  One way I know when it's time to change the diffuser is when Hannah starts getting zits on her chin and starts hissing and getting aggressive with the other kitties.

what antihistamine would you suggest? is it on prescription?

i don't use any plastic and there is no free feeding of any sort. they eat from two bowls and when they are done, the bowls are washed until the next feeding. their food is 50% canned and 50% raw. sky doesn't have any acne, has very clean ears, nose and eyes-except for slight tearing but it's under control with lysine. blue has always had dirty, crusty ears, nose, and eyes which briefly improved back in may with a dose of antibiotics but then she developed herpes (?) and one eye is squinty and there is a lesion on her cheek which is not improving with lysine. so i'm going to try famciclovir but was wondering if anybody has used it and how well the cat will tolerate it.

I would also recommend adding 250mg of bovine lactoferrin to her food. It should be given as 125mg two times a day: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/267703/stubborn-herpes-infection-add-lactoferrin-in-addition-to-lysine

Many people are experiencing much better results with the combination - some with the lactoferrin instead of the lysine.

When you say lesion... are you talking about something like this?

I know several folks on this board have used it and continue to use it with success.  I have no personal experience with it so can't speak to that.

I use regular Claritin.  I get the generic Wal-Mart brand (Loratadine, 10 mg).  I give 1/4 to 1/2 of a tablet once a day.  I crush it in their wet food concoction in the morning.  I add a bit of water to their wet food and mix it all together. 

One other thing to consider is a culture and sensitivity test to see if there's an underlying secondary infection you're dealing with. 

I just stopped a two week course of famciclovir 2x daily for my Pushy. We're also using interferon eye drops 3x daily. I honestly couldn't tell you how effective the famciclovir has been as we didn't use it in isolation. He also gets 500mg lysine daily.
He did not like the famciclovir pills and spat them out a few times. He's a really easy cat because he'll eat anything, so fortunately he did eat the pills when I put them in Pill Pockets.

Pushy doesn't have lesions, just a really runny, goopy eye for almost a year now. Lately it's cleared up a lot and I'm hoping to really hammer the virus down and keep him good. Just started him on lactoferrin today too. My thinking is we're going at it with guns blazing to really attack this persistent virus. I want him to have nice clear eyes again!


With Blue having a lesion, I'm surprised your vet didn't give you some kind of ointment?

Cuts on and around a cats face can be be difficult :/ We had a cat with a bad reaction to flea medication once and it took almost a full year to get him totally healed because he wouldn't stop opening back up old cuts. My best tip would be to get a kitty-cone to put on for a while. Give it time to heal up and time to dry out. Make sure when you take it off that they don't open it back up right away.

As for the herpes virus, this link might helpful to you!

http://www.expertvet.com/articles/feline-herpes-virus

It's definitely a manageable disease, and sounds way scarier than it is!

The additional antiviral might be worth a try.  I don't know if you have seen this thread http://www.thecatsite.com/t/270999/help-possible-fip#post_3481524.  This members kitty was actually diagnosed as having FIP.  She thought it was a stubborn URI and got a second opinion.  The second vet added the same antiviral that you are considering using and kitty is doing well.

bluesky said:

 
the lesion looks like this, sometimes it dries up and looks like it's healing but when she grooms herself she opens it up. and sometimes it just looks red and oozing fluid.

Click to expand...

Oh, poor girl!  How is she doing?

other than that, she seems fine, she eats like she used to, plays a lot... we are on the third day of fam and i don't want to jinx it but it kinda looks better...  thank you all for all the suggestions!

oh, i mix the crushed pill with the wet food and she doesn't notice it...so far. i also give her and her sister sky half a pill of lysine. i also mix the powder into the food and they don't mind it... pill pockets worked very well for my old simba but maybe they are not picky cats.

bluesky said:

IMG_7730.JPG

• bluesky
• Jan 21, 2014

the lesion looks like this, sometimes it dries up and looks like it's healing but when she grooms herself she opens it up. and sometimes it just looks red and oozing fluid.

Click to expand...

Poor baby. Honestly, I don't know if this is from the Herpes virus or not but your vet is confirming this? Did the vet do a skin scraping or a fungal culture? Just to be sure.

I am glad that LDG chimed in here because some of us with Herpes kitties are seeing incredible progress by using the Lactoferrin. LDG listed the thread link in her post above.

The Lysine should be at 1000 mg. per day during serious flare-ups. 500 mg. a.m. and 500 mg. p.m.. In fact, the feline eye specialist that Perla sees tells me that 1000 mg. per day IS maintenance. I go down to 500 mg. per day though when she is not flaring.

You can also clean that wound with Vetericyn gel This really works and is extremely safe to use. Perla will get a bright red sore under her left eye if I don't clean it daily with this stuff. You can put it right in the eye too. I would think that if I didn't clean her eye daily she would get an open lesion such as your kitties from all of the drainage. It must be kept clean and dry if at all possible. Not easy.

Coming back to this thread today. That lesion is really bothering me and I can only imagine how it must be for you. If I were you, I would get her to another vet asap for a second opinion on that lesion. That looks nasty and I would not try to treat it with anything OTC or with anything that a member here is suggesting, including me. :lol3: I think the cat needs a vet - a different vet.

Feralvr said:

Coming back to this thread today. That lesion is really bothering me and I can only imagine how it must be for you.

If I were you, I would get her to another vet asap for a second opinion on that lesion. That looks nasty and I would not try to treat it with anything OTC or with anything that a member here is suggesting, including me.

I think the cat needs a vet - a different vet.

Click to expand...

I think this is very good advice.  

I don't know anything much in this department, but I wanted to lend a compassionate ear.  I hope your kitty gets better soon.