Any ways to keep a handle on feline herpes?

Our new adopted kitty, Apult came with a case of herpes. We've barely had him six weeks and he's already gotten an infection a second time. This time I caught it before it got too out of hand. He just has a fever and some discharge. Anyways, the vet suggested viraysis or something? The gel that will help keep it dormant, and I plan on getting that but I was wondering if anyone else had any other things that could help? Like would changing his diet or environment help keep the infections under control?

IchiNi said:

Our new adopted kitty, Apult came with a case of herpes. We've barely had him six weeks and he's already gotten an infection a second time. This time I caught it before it got too out of hand. He just has a fever and some discharge. Anyways, the vet suggested viraysis or something? The gel that will help keep it dormant, and I plan on getting that but I was wondering if anyone else had any other things that could help? Like would changing his diet or environment help keep the infections under control?

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Stress can bring on a relapse, and there is a fair amount of evidence that adding a pinch of L-lysine daily to his food for the rest of his life helps prevent the replication of the virus.

I could write a book about experiences with feline herpes!  First thing to know is that herpes is very manageable and what works for one cat may not work for another, so it's a lot of trial and error and trying different things. 

Most likely, he might not have completely been rid of the infection that's caused a flare up.  He might be dealing with an underlying, secondary infection.  It often takes a herpes kitty longer to get over an infection.  My vet normally prescribes antibiotics for 10-14 days for healthy kitties, but for my kitty, she gets a 21 day round of antibiotics.  So if you're on the get sick, get medication and get well, get sick, get meds and get well, get sick roller coaster, a secondary infection is probably at play.

In my opinion, Lysine is crucial for herpes kitties. There has been a recent study showing that Lysine isn't effective, but it works for my girl.  Lysine is an amino acid that helps disrupt the effects of arginine found in foods.  Arginine can cause the herpes virus to replicate.  Lysine helps stop that.  For it to be effective, lysine must stay in the blood stream. Since it's an amino acid, it is flushed out of the body when kitties urinate, so twice daily dosing is important.  500mg twice a day is the flare up dose and 250mg twice daily is the maintenance dose.  I use the powdered lysine from Vitacost, but you can smash capsules between two spoons or get capsules, open them up and sprinkle over wet food.  We mix the powder into wet food twice a day.

As Stephen mentioned, stress is one of the big contributors to herpers flare ups.  Keeping stress to a minimum help.  We run Feliway diffusers in our home to help my girl feel more confident and to keep the stress at bay. We also use some other calming agents when needed. Additionally, keep to a schedule and set up a routine to help your kitty not get stressed out. If you make changes, make them gradually to help out. 

Lastly, move to a grain free diet as the grains in food can possibly complicate the herpes virus.  There are many good grain-free canned and dry foods on the market that are reasonably priced now.  Find something that works for your budget and your kitty and stick with it. 

Something else we do is we do not vaccinate with the combo FVRCP as the "R" part is rhinotrachecheitis which is the herpes virus.  Discuss vaccines in general with your vet.  Personally, for us, we're not big on vaccinations for any of our kitties once they've completed their kitten shots and had their first rabies vaccine.  However, that's a decision we've made with the advice of our vet. 

I had good luck adding lactoferrin to my cat's food.  This is a long thread but there's lots of information here:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/267703/stubborn-herpes-infection-add-lactoferrin-in-addition-to-lysine