herpes virus

tara

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
61
Purraise
1
Location
Manchester, England
I've had a new cat for 3 weeks - a 4 year old Persian (but not one with the squashed in face). The woman I bought her from said she'd had her jabs but 18 months ago but she didn't know what she'd had or even where the vets was. . .The vet also noticed she had a tooth missing so thinks she may be older but says it is difficult to tell age. I don't think she was very well cared for as her fur was very matted. She lived with another cat but is our only cat.
I haven't been able to give her her jabs yet as the vet is trying to clear up what he thinks is the herpes virus.
She has very runny/crusty eyes still, despite nearly 2 weeks of eyedrops. She has had about 3 antibiotic jabs and is now also on mouth drops that we have to give her in her food as she gets extremely distressed if we try to put them directly into her mouth. Yesterday, she stopped eating but seems hungry and sort of butts her mouth against the food as if she wants if but doesn't want to open her mouth. We were wondering about mouth ulcers or some sort of gum disease but she seems to enjoy opening her mouth to chew on things like buttons. She's just been sick twice as well. Apart from all this, she seems quite perky/lively and isn't sleeping all the time. Anybody had any similar experiences? Is it normal for the eye trouble to continue for so long despite eye drops? I'd be grateful for any comments/reassurance.
 

sandie

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
5,464
Purraise
7
Location
CT
Well, the eating sounds like what might be a calici virus. It causes ulcers and foul breath. Theres no antibiotic to treat those, and they go away in time. As for the eyes, it may be that even though it is a baby doll Persian, the eye ducts still may be small or clogged. This would cause them to run and create a dark brown crust. If the vet thinks it is a herpes virus, he should test it to make sure. If the vet after a few visits, can't tell you whats going on, I would search for another vet.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

tara

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
61
Purraise
1
Location
Manchester, England
Thanks Sandie. Festra's due to go back to the vets in 3 days so I'll see if he tests for a specific virus. One thing anout the eating - she won't eat anything from a bowl or her usual favourite, chicken. The only thing she'll eat is hand fed dry food, so it seems she will use her teeth to crunch but won't touch anything wet. Does that suggest ulcers or gum disease/anything specific? The only problem I have now is getting her to take her mouth drops which we were putting in food and she hates having her mouth touched. The eye drops are bad enough but I'm learning to be a bit more forceful. Cruel to be kind etc . . .
 

sandie

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
5,464
Purraise
7
Location
CT
The only real way to tell if she has ulcers is to open her mouth and look to the back. Usually they are real red and possibly pussy. The wet food may be too salty if she has any lesions. Sometimes if they are sick, they just dont feel like eating much.What are the names of the medications she has?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

tara

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
61
Purraise
1
Location
Manchester, England
She has some eyedops called Fucithalmic and Amoxypen Oral mouth drops. I'm in England so I don't know if they have different names in different countries?
I have been really worried about her health as she has been very poorly since we got her but I think she might be getting better as she is more energetic but it's difficult to know what she'd be like 'normally' as I've only had her 3 weeks.
Are the eyedrops likely to help or are the eye ducts in Persians always likely to be a problem? She hates having the drops and I'm wondering whether they actually do any good.
I can't see any ulcers but it's not easy looking so they could be there.
 

sandie

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
5,464
Purraise
7
Location
CT
If it is the eye ducts, then yes, it is going to be a daily thing with cleaning the eyes. Theres nothing to make them stop running. If it is an infection the amoxypen is an antibiotic and should clear up the eyes as well. It usually takes a course of 14 days. However you need to make sure she is getting all of it and not missing any doses. Sometimes we have to piss our cats off to make them better. I know it is hard, but in the long run, they will forgive you and understand. When my cats are on medication, I usually enlist the help of my husband to hold while I force the mouth open. Let me know how she is progressing.
 

Anne

Site Owner
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
40,207
Purraise
6,095
Location
On TCS
Originally posted by Tara:

well, took festra to the vets today. he thinks she's had the cat flu virus for a while and it flared up due to moving to a new home. as she seems to be feeling better, he has not suggested doing any swabs. He's given me new eye drops as they are getting better but are not quite there yet.
He looked in her mouth and found a massive tartar build up which he can clean up but doesn't want to do that until she's clear of the virus. she was vastly sick last night - the food looked completely undigested - and has been looking sorry for herself since last night. A brief interest in going outside but it was snowing so she didn't maintain her enthusiasm for long! he gave us some tablets to reduce the inflammation in her mouth and act as a painkiller. she is having such difficulty eating, it's horrible to watch her try to eat something but can't when she's miaowing with hunger. she's going back in 2 weeks when if she's over her problems, he can finally give her the jabs and then we can think about sorting out her teeth.
the worst thing is that since we got her we've had eye and mouth drops to give her every day which gets increasingly difficult - especially the tablets as she doesn't like opening her mouth. i cannot wait to see the end of all her problems Thanks so much for the advice you've given so far.
(posted on another thread and moved over here)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

tara

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
61
Purraise
1
Location
Manchester, England
I'm not sure if this is a health or behaviour problem but here goes anyway.
I'm trying to get Festra off the canned food her last owner fed her by mixing in some hills science diet dry food. She tries to avoid the hills when it's in her bowl but will quite happily eat it if I hand feed it to her. any ideas as to why this mgiht be happening? I don't want to pander to her too much in case she gets fussy but I hand feed her as I want her to get used to the new food.
 

Anne

Site Owner
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
40,207
Purraise
6,095
Location
On TCS
I think you're on the right track. When did you start mixing in the dry food? It could take some time for her to get used to it. You may also try another flavor of the dry cat food (I think Hills got more than one flavor for the dry).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

tara

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2001
Messages
61
Purraise
1
Location
Manchester, England
She's only been having the dry food for 4 days. It's the chicken one and the first time she seemed to love it and ate it all but was then sick (possibly connected? but she is quite a sickly cat) If she just didn't like the taste, would she eat it from my hand do you think? She has a lot of tartar build up on her teeth - does this make it more unpleasant to eat dry food? I'm thinking of eventually mixing the hills dry with Iams canned food. Is that a bit much for her maybe? I'm so excited to have her I've bought loads of different things for her to try but I guess I have to introduce things gradually. She's only used to Whiskas chicken and rabbit in a can (her last owner claimed she didn't like anything else) so she's probably a bit shell-shocked!
 

mcbecca2

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Mar 6, 2001
Messages
18
Purraise
4
Location
South Carolina
I was reading what someone posted about cats and bad breath. Well the new cat we adopted has REALLY bad breath. Is that normal?

Tonya
 

Anne

Site Owner
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
40,207
Purraise
6,095
Location
On TCS
I know we're always nagging people to keep the replies on the same thread, but as this is a new issue, could you please start a new thread for it Tonya?

I'm sorry about the trouble, but I think more people will respond if it's under the title of "bad breath" rather than "herpes virus"
.

Thanks!
 
Top