Sick cat with herpes needs help until vet appt

jaspurr · Jan 3, 2015

My cat has feline herpes. He has had several flare ups since I got him and have treated them with anti biotics.. In the meantime I have him on l-lysine and it seems to be helping but he is having another one and I can't get a.vet appt. until next week. What can I do to make him more comfortable. He has lost his appetite and is sneezing and lethargic. He was an intervention cat from a home of 65 other cats. I am very fond of him and hate seeing him like this. Any advice would be helpful.

red top rescue · Jan 3, 2015

I've found that adding lactoferrin to their food, in addition to L-lysine, has improved and eventually totally "cured" the leftover symptoms in the cats we rescued from animal control who had serious URI with herpes when we got them. A humidifier helps also in winter, when you are running the heat. You can improve appetite sometimes by using strong smelling wet food. Even though fish isn't recommended in large doses, it works well for getting their attention when they can't smell very well. You can get lactoferrin online, but you may also be able to find it at a local health store so you can get it faster (at higher cost, but you need it soon so it would be worth it if you could find it locally. If you keep up with the lysine and lactoferrin, hopefully you will see a much improvement as we did. After six months, we are having no more symptoms at all in these cats.

stephenq · Jan 3, 2015

jaspurr said:
My cat has feline herpes. He has had several flare ups since I got him and have treated them with anti biotics.. In the meantime I have him on l-lysine and it seems to be helping but he is having another one and I can't get a.vet appt. until next week. What can I do to make him more comfortable. He has lost his appetite and is sneezing and lethargic. He was an intervention cat from a home of 65 other cats. I am very fond of him and hate seeing him like this. Any advice would be helpful.

Like @Red Top Rescue said, smelly food is a good start. 9 Lives used medicinally is a good choice, their tuna flavor stinks!

Also, non-medicated saline nose drops like Little Noses, a couple squirts in the nostrils 2x a day can help loosen them plus a steam bath by sitting with them in the shower with the water on hot for 15min 2x a day as well.

If he stops eating entirely then you have to move to syringe feeding. A good instructional video is here:

betsygee · Jan 3, 2015

Red Top Rescue said:
I've found that adding lactoferrin to their food, in addition to L-lysine, has improved and eventually totally "cured" the leftover symptoms in the cats we rescued from animal control who had serious URI with herpes when we got them. A humidifier helps also in winter, when you are running the heat. You can improve appetite sometimes by using strong smelling wet food. Even though fish isn't recommended in large doses, it works well for getting their attention when they can't smell very well. You can get lactoferrin online, but you may also be able to find it at a local health store so you can get it faster (at higher cost, but you need it soon so it would be worth it if you could find it locally. If you keep up with the lysine and lactoferrin, hopefully you will see a much improvement as we did. After six months, we are having no more symptoms at all in these cats.

Lactoferrin really helped my cat, too. Here's a long thread about treating herpes infections, you may get some ideas from it: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/267703/stubborn-herpes-infection-add-lactoferrin-in-addition-to-lysine

Sick cat with herpes needs help until vet appt

jaspurr

TCS Member

Thread starter

red top rescue

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stephenq

TCS Member

betsygee

Just what part of meow don't you understand.

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