Questions re: Transfer Factor

Which human version of Transfer Factor would be better for a cat who is always sick due to immune system problems, the 4Life Transfer Factor Classic, or the Tri-Factor Plus formula?  And is the dosage one capsule a day for either version?

I've read several threads on this site on the subject, and if I understand correctly, the Classic version would help modulate Buddy's immune system.  But his immune system is so compromised at the moment and he has so many setbacks, it's gotten to the point where it's hard to tell where one illness stops and another one begins.  Heck, sometimes he even has several problems at the same time!  So simply modulating his immune system may not be enough for him, at least for now.  But I'm not quite clear re: the Tri-Factor Plus.  Is that something you just give cats when they're sick to help get them over the hump, and then switch to the Classic when the immediate crisis is over?  Or since Buddy is sick pretty much all of the time, would the Tri-Factor Plus be a better option for him on an ongoing basis? 

Alas, our current vet is less than enthusiastic re: our interest in doing what we can to help improve Buddy's immune system so he doesn't get sick so often.  On the bright side, at least he doesn't want to put our baby to sleep like the other vets in our area suggested.  But we're hoping there's a happy medium between that and just waiting until Buddy gets yet another infection and the vet recommending another a shot of Convenia (yet another issue!). ;-)

For what it's worth, Buddy is FIV positive, has FHV, and is extremely prone to upper respiratory infections, as well as other infections.  Oh, and he was also diagnosed as having FLUTD a couple of years or so ago, but hasn't had any relapses since we started following Dr. Pierson's dietary recommendations at catinfo.org.

Thanks!

 I would suggest calling the folks at 4life on their product support line at 801-562-3698 and discuss with them.  I really think they are the best ones to help with which product is best.

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
 I would suggest calling the folks at 4life on their product support line at 801-562-3698 and discuss with them.  I really think they are the best ones to help with which product is best.

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I did contact them, but they haven't gotten back to me yet.  I'll just have to keep trying.  

Hi, We have a cat who had an awfully swollen face, he used to be our neighbours cat and he got in some kind of a fight and came to us as he normally did, with this deep cut above his eye with pus coming out of it. We told them, he just wiped it off and sent him back outside again, within an hour he was back inside our flat! I had no idea how fast infections can spread in cats with things like this at that time.

So come about 2 or 3 days later, his poor cheek was swollen up like a golf ball, neighbours don't even have a pet carrier so we put him in ours, knocked on their front door this time and said look, this poor boy needs to go to a vet, now...

To be fair they did take him ASAP, I think they gave him amoxycillin, didn't do much at all, as in a few days it was swollen up again. They told us they couldn't afford the vets bills so either could we adopt him or they'd give him away. Poor boy. So of course we adopted him.

We took him to our vets and they offered us the same (in his case, useless) antibiotics, or a stronger injection type. We opted for the injection. I can't remember what it's called. It was supposed to work for 2 weeks and then he would be better.

It stopped it swelling for 2 weeks and ASAP after that almost to the hour and day, it swelled up again. Another trip to the vet, another expensive antibiotic injection, 2 weeks later exactly the same things happened. Each time the vet had to cut a small slit in his cheek and physically squeeze the pus out, the poor, poor boy, she said he was so so good, some cats wouldn't be OK with that without a full anesthetic, he was good as gold, I think animals have a sense when you are helping them even if it's not nice for them at the time!

So back we went again to the vet, I said there's no point giving him the same injection again as it's not worked these other 2 times. So they gave us what I think was a weaker one, amoxycillin again, and this was rubbish, not even a couple of days had gone past of our 1 week or 10 days supply and his face was swollen up again, I had to squeeze it out myself.

Anyway before the last vet trip my partner and I had done research and ordered transfer factor, I'd read posts of people looking after ferals and mixing it into their food for various things. I'd also got some high quality colloidal silver. So we started putting the colloidal silver both dropping it directly onto the small cut in his face and mixing it into his food. 2/3 times a day. Luckily in this one instance, he is a super greedy cat so will always hoover up everything in his bowl, lol, so easy to make sure he gets the amount you want to give him.

The silver seemed to be helping a little but the main difference was when the transfer factor arrived. We had read I think on here or some other sites about giving a large dose for the first few days until you can see a noticeable difference.

So we ordered the human tri factor plus, (it also helped my partner recover loads faster than he was before he started taking it, from shingles a while later) - we gave him the human dose, 3 full tablets per day mixed into his wet food, (which he hoovered up as already mentioned!) - this was as per other forum advisors posts about what they had done and at what doses. So you think, a cat is what about 1/10th or less the body size of a human, this dose is flooding their immune system with good things, colostrum, various healthy mushrooms, and lots of other stuff.

We kept him on that dose for around 3 or 4 days - he also was still on the antibiotics as per the vet until we ran out of that - but I know it was the transfer factor that made the difference because he had been on those antibiotics right from the start and they did nothing, and then the 4th round, his face swelled up again, after a day or 2, and we noticed this stopped happening after about 2 days on the transfer factor. So we reduced the dose to 2 tablets a day, maybe for another 3-4 days, after a week he was booked back to see the vet and she was super surprised, she pronounced him cured and good as gold, we also noticed he had LOADS more energy and was playing with our kittens like a kitten himself!

Now, we give all 3 of our cats a transfer factor capsule mixed in with their food maybe once a week or once every 2 weeks. Just to give their immune systems a little boost.

Angel has this weird small lump on his tail, the vet didn't know what it was, the fur was all there - I gave him 2 transfer factor capsules maybe 2 in a week a few days apart - it's gone now. This may or may not be related to the transfer factor!

So I can't recommend it enough as it helped our Angel not have his face cut open, our vets are lovely but it's a shame that just like with most human doctors, at least in 'western' medicine, tey treat the symptoms not the root cause, clearly in Angel's case, the root cause was a deep infection that had had about 4 days to really get set in before he even had mild antiobiotics, I can only think that was why it was so hard to get rid of. Transfer factor treated the root cause which was his weak immune system -the mega dose gave his body a massive kick start boost to fight off whatever it was, and his body did and we have our baby back! I am sure without the treatment he might have died from that infection, it was so bad. So I thank Transfer Factor for saving our sweet little cat.

And, we just found out the other day - our neighbour bless her, she is a sweet but a bit ditzy, i asked her how old was Angel, as she had been given him by her daughter as a mothers day present. She said she thought about 6 or 7. She said she had taken him to a certain vets in our area, so I called them and explained and asked them. They said he was 4 yrs 3 months from when he had gone there to get his tomcatliness removed! SO we have an unexpected 2 years of youth in our lovely boy as well :-) yay! :-)

Hope this helps anyone thinking of using transfer factor. :-)

Thanks bunches for sharing your experiences, sunshineclare .

Since Buddy has so many ongoing problems, including some allergies, we decided to start as conservatively as possible. So we bought the 4Life Transfer Factor Classic.

I don't know how much it helps his general health, because it's always like playing a game of Whac-a-Mole re: all his symptoms. But it has truly been a godsend for inflammatory type issues, especially in conjunction with the Zyrtec! It really seems to help quiet his immune system.

Does it help with the feline eye herpes at all?

maggiedemi said:

Does it help with the feline eye herpes at all?

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Well...

Buddy has been blessed, and hasn't had any serious eye problems during herpes outbreaks, at least so far. So I can't vouch for whether or not Transfer Factor might help in that respect.

But it has helped re: Buddy's herpes-related upper respiratory symptoms. He was already on L-lysine and lactoferrin for the FIV and FHV, and doubling the dosage during flare-ups did help somewhat. However, we did notice a significant improvement when we added Transfer Factor to the mix.