Anyone out there with a herpes/chronic URI kitty?

lionessrampant · Jan 24, 2006

Hey all...

My Leo was diagnosed (not by a blood test, but just based on symptoms) as being a herpes/chronic URI virus shedder...he had an outbreak right after this past Christmas, and here we are, still gooping from the eyes and sniffling.

We're lucky. His symptoms are pretty much limited to a thin, clear eye discharge and some minor congestion in his sinuses/nasal cavity. If it's REALLY bad, we'll have some sneezing and a post-nasal drip that has been known to cause vomitting, but so far, we haven't had to deal with any major conjunctivitis or eye ulcers. I manage it with L-formula Lysine, 1000mg a day split into 2 doses. He's also, obviously, inside-only and we have a feliway diffuser plugged in at any given time. Other than Clavamox once or twice, we've never really had to do much invasive treatment.

But this time, though the symptoms are minor, they don't seem to be going back into recession as fast as they normally do. Granted, the episode causing this outbreak was easily the most stressful thing Leo has gone through since he was rescued from the streets, but I think I might need to try something other than just Lysine and TLC. His symptoms haven't gotten WORSE, they just haven't gone away. Usually, his outbreaks last 2-3 weeks, but now it's been 4.

So, if you have a chronic URI kitty, what would your advice for me be?

BTW, Gracie is also a herpes kitty. You wouldn't know it though. She hasn't had an episode in the time she's been with me.

rang_27 · Jan 24, 2006

My vet thinks that Jordan has Herpes in his eye. I'm begining to wonder if that's why he had such a horrible URI this past summer. He was very sick & for almost 10 days I had to force feed him, give him meds 2 x daily & Sub-Q fluids 2 x daily. He's usually very healthy, but as a kitten he had constant mucus bulid up in his eye. Now it's better, but still flares up when he's stressed. My vet gave me a supplement called Viralis or something like that when he was sick & now when ever his eyes flare up I give him some of that & it seems to do the trick, but like I said his is preety mild.

lionessrampant · Jan 24, 2006

Originally Posted by Rang_27

My vet thinks that Jordan has Herpes in his eye. I'm begining to wonder if that's why he had such a horrible URI this past summer. He was very sick & for almost 10 days I had to force feed him, give him meds 2 x daily & Sub-Q fluids 2 x daily. He's usually very healthy, but as a kitten he had constant mucus bulid up in his eye. Now it's better, but still flares up when he's stressed. My vet gave me a supplement called Viralis or something like that when he was sick & now when ever his eyes flare up I give him some of that & it seems to do the trick, but like I said his is preety mild.

Yeah, Viralys is just a special compounding of Lysine. Leo's mild, too, but this flare-up hasn't been pleasant. He's been to the vet, but she didn't seem that concerned. I just hate to see him have the sniffles! I have been feeding him really stinky food, too, because I worry that he'll reject his normal food when he's stuffy.

shambelle · Jan 24, 2006

My poor herpes kitty Teddy will need to start on lysine soon.

He's a mess, has taken drugs, and we're not getting too much of anywhere.
I don't have anything insightful to say except that Teddy's nose gets horribly stuffed yet he still eats his very bland food (IVD since he has IBS) without hesitation. I also worried he wouldn't be able to smell it but it hasn't been an issue!

purrpaws · Jan 24, 2006

My Prego is a herpes kitty, but I don't have any advice for you. I'm sorry. Prego takes 500mg of lysine daily, and he's only had 2 outbreaks since I've had him. One outbreak cleared on its own, but the second was in his eye and he had to have eye antibiotics.

cloud_shade · Jan 24, 2006

Is the mucus still clear? If not, it may have developed into a bacterial infection and would require antibiotics. Does he have discharge from the nose? If so, both nostrils or just one?

lionessrampant · Jan 24, 2006

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

Is the mucus still clear? If not, it may have developed into a bacterial infection and would require antibiotics. Does he have discharge from the nose? If so, both nostrils or just one?

No, it's clear and only from his eyes. It looks like tears and according to the vet and all of my research, this is all related to his shedding the virus.

Like I said, these symptoms are all really mild. But they're there and I'm a worryer of a mommy.

cloud_shade · Jan 24, 2006

If you're concerned, then call your vet. See if there is anything else you can give your kitty to ease the symptoms. With Spot, we gave him Interferon-alpha which helped for a while (it turns out Spot has something else going on in his poor little nose).

jeanor · Jan 24, 2006

Boogs was just diagnosed with this Saturday. I have ointment to put in her eyes, then Viralys twice a day for 30 days.

We've just had her since September and this is the first outbreak.

zak&rocky · Jan 24, 2006

I have one of these, my darling Rocky. He's been relatively well the past month or so- knocks on wood. For him his baseline is tearing from the eyes, goopy snot that he either sneezes out or we take care with a baby nose aspirator. He also has an eye ulcer, but it has remained unchanged from day one and doesn't really respond to meds. We give lysine in the wet food, unforunately he doesn't really eat much of it, but it can't hurt the other kitties to help them from getting the virus - I could not afford 4 cats with herpes like Rocky.
-well I would if I had to. Anyway, when he gets sick, which for him is coughing and occassional vomiting, he goes to the vet and gets a steriod shot, which isn't great but it's a trade off with his symtoms. It seems he has to have one every 6-10 weeks. Antibiotics have helped in the past to some extent, but nothing seems to the trick like a steriod shot or prednisone pills.
It sounds like you are doing everything you can for your baby, the only suggestion I can make is that you feed good food, and if he is stuffy, you give him steam treatments.

beckiboo · Jan 24, 2006

I am pretty sure Garfield has feline herpes. I have never had anyone else catch it from him. He sneezes out boogers at times. His nose never looks totally clear. But he had distemper as a kitten, and was given a lot of medications. He did not tolerate L-Lysine when he was younger, it would make him vomit. And now he won't take it. If I mix it in food, he refuses it. So he is just a runny nose kitty.

I do use chapstick on his nose sometimes. I got a natural unscented stick, but he still hates it. But if he starts getting dry boogies on his nose I'm afraid it will break down the skin. And we take him in the bathroom when we shower sometimes, so he gets a steam treatment.

He got his annual check up today, and they started him on antibiotics. I haven't even started them yet, since he so hates to take any medication. (From being sick as a kitten, he just hates medicine!) Since he is already stressed from the vet visit, I'll just start the meds tomorrow.

I have no real advise. Except that salmon is high in lysine. If Gar seems sicker than usual, sometimes I'll supplement him with salmon! LOL!

lionessrampant · Jan 24, 2006

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

I am pretty sure Garfield has feline herpes. I have never had anyone else catch it from him. He sneezes out boogers at times. His nose never looks totally clear. But he had distemper as a kitten, and was given a lot of medications. He did not tolerate L-Lysine when he was younger, it would make him vomit. And now he won't take it. If I mix it in food, he refuses it. So he is just a runny nose kitty.

I do use chapstick on his nose sometimes. I got a natural unscented stick, but he still hates it. But if he starts getting dry boogies on his nose I'm afraid it will break down the skin. And we take him in the bathroom when we shower sometimes, so he gets a steam treatment.

He got his annual check up today, and they started him on antibiotics. I haven't even started them yet, since he so hates to take any medication. (From being sick as a kitten, he just hates medicine!) Since he is already stressed from the vet visit, I'll just start the meds tomorrow.

I have no real advise. Except that salmon is high in lysine. If Gar seems sicker than usual, sometimes I'll supplement him with salmon! LOL!

Yeah, Leo is just my runny-eyed kitty.

Thankfully, Lysine normally works quite well with him. This is his 3rd cold in 2 years, so his immune system is obviously pretty darn good for a herpes kitty, and like I said, he's never had bad conjuntivitis. He just gets little viral URI flare-ups with sneezing and nasal congestion. Unless the dishage gets goopy or yellow/green or his 3rd eyelid really shows through, I don't usually take him in. I do the shower thing with him, too!

And yeah. They told me gracie had chronic URI symptoms, but ever since I put her on a better diet, she's just a picture of health. She snores loud enough to wake teh dead, so maybe her nasal passages aren't 100% clear, but she has no discharge, sneezing, etc.

shambelle · Jan 24, 2006

It's nice (well not nice, but you know what I mean) to see other people's experiences with this. Teddy's problem started in September and hasn't stopped since - none of my cat owning friends locally have chronic URI cats, so I don't have many people to commiserate with.

Teddy has gone into some sneezing fits lately complete with snot, so he's earned himself a trip to the vet on Saturday. He's been in there every month for a while now. He'll be 9 in April... I'm worried about him!

zak&rocky · Jan 25, 2006

Rocky's nose was looking irritated about a month ago. Instead of chapstick, I bought some vaseline and put some on a couple times, it seemed to help and the problem went away. He was having problems with dryness last year, in fact I think the way I found this site was when I did a search on "dry paw pads". For christmas last year they got a petmate fountain, and we didn't have any problems this winter with dry pads!

momofmany · Jan 25, 2006

My Bogart had chronic URI's his entire life (13 years) - caught rhino as a kitten and nearly died from it. His respiratory tract was damaged and he was permanently sneezy. I used vaporizors when it acted up, but got him to like sitting in the bathroom with me each day as I showered. The steam really helped unclog him. He was also on antibiotics about 3-4 times a year during his bad times. It was a preventative measure to stop opportunistic bacterial infections that are common when their immune systems are depressed. We switched the types of antibiotics each time so that he wouldn't build up an immunity to them.

My Muddy has herpes in his eye. He fought me with the Lysine pills, and we just discovered the Enisyl-F oral paste. He's been on that for about a month now and his eye has never looked better (he's had it for about a year). He actually begs me for it each morning and evening. I squirt the dose on my finger and he very eagerly licks it off.

purrpaws · Jan 26, 2006

Originally Posted by Momofmany

My Muddy has herpes in his eye. He fought me with the Lysine pills, and we just discovered the Enisyl-F oral paste. He's been on that for about a month now and his eye has never looked better (he's had it for about a year). He actually begs me for it each morning and evening. I squirt the dose on my finger and he very eagerly licks it off.

I crush up the lysine pills and put them in Prego's food. I guess it doesn't have any taste because he still chows down the food

He just stands there waiting for his food looking at me like "hurry up, mommy, I'm starving!"

laureen227 · Jan 26, 2006

Originally Posted by PurrPaws

I crush up the lysine pills and put them in Prego's food. I guess it doesn't have any taste because he still chows down the food

He just stands there waiting for his food looking at me like "hurry up, mommy, I'm starving!"

this is exactly why i wish i could find a wet food Pixel would eat w/some regularity! we tried Merricks california roll last nite...Pixel was not the least bit interested. Cable thought it was delicious! i usually use the viralys gel for Pixel - it's easier to administer than a pill, & cheaper than the Enisyl-F. she's much better this year - just some clear tears once in a while. last year was so hard on her...

zak&rocky · Jan 26, 2006

I have a similar problem with Rocky. He hardly every touches the wet I put out for them. I think it's because his sense of smell isn't that good. He loves dry food. We have tried giving him the lysine paste but he hated it. Has anyone had any luck with sprinkling lysine in dry food?

momofmany · Jan 26, 2006

Wow! I keep hearing of folks whose cat hated the lysine paste. Keep your fingers crossed that Muddy continues to love it! He is spoiled rotten and doesn't take medicine well.

cloud_shade · Jan 27, 2006

Spot only likes his "dry" food moistened (usually with CatSip), so I can usually mix some L-Lysine into there if needed. I also discovered that the human tablets dissolve really easily into water and aren't particularly bitter. I found that it was relatively easy to syringe a dissolved tablet into Spot's mouth--but he's an easy to pill cat. Since the tablets don't have a strong taste, it shouldn't be too hard to hide the dissolved tablet or powder in something.

Anyone out there with a herpes/chronic URI kitty?

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