Treatment for cat flu?

We have a cat that my boyfriend found outside last winter, and she has cat flue. She sneezes all the time, but other than that she is well (very cuddly, active and playful). Is there a treatment against that?

We live in a small town in Sweden and the vet told us there wasn't any treatment when we brought her in last year, but now we're thinking there has to be one. She can't go through all her life sneezing like that, I feel so sorry for her.

My boyfriend is originally from New York, USA, and he thought that maybe they had something over there that we in Sweden might now have yet. Anyone know of any pills you can get? Please help...

are you sure she doesn't have allergies? it is possible for cats to be allergic to the same things people are allergic to. i'm sorry i don't know of any pills for cat flu, but i'm sure someone else on this board will have more information. good luck to you!

cat flu is a miss-used term as there is no influenza virus in cats. But she may have a chronic viral upper respiratory illness, possibly feline herpes. If it's feline herpes she can benefit from long term use of a suppliment called L-Lysine which interferes with the replication of the herpes virus. You add a little bit to her food every day, for the rest of her life. In a month or so you should see an improvement.

Also stress can make these viruses more pronounced so try to give her a calm environment.

Originally Posted by mrspotts66

are you sure she doesn't have allergies? it is possible for cats to be allergic to the same things people are allergic to. i'm sorry i don't know of any pills for cat flu, but i'm sure someone else on this board will have more information. good luck to you!

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I don't think she has any allergies given that she was like that when my boyfriend found her outside. She was very tired at first and kept sneezing and almost couldn't breath because of all the dried snot in her nostrils. We took her to the vet right away and she gave her antibiotics. When those didn't help we took her to another vet who said the sneezing had become chronic, but she gave us some stronger antibiotics and said we should try those instead. When that didn't help she said there was nothing they could do...

Originally Posted by stephenq

cat flu is a miss-used term as there is no influenza virus in cats. But she may have a chronic viral upper respiratory illness, possibly feline herpes. If it's feline herpes she can benefit from long term use of a suppliment called L-Lysine which interferes with the replication of the herpes virus. You add a little bit to her food every day, for the rest of her life. In a month or so you should see an improvement.

Also stress can make these viruses more pronounced so try to give her a calm environment.

Click to expand...

Really? Because our vet said that it was cat flu, and that the sneezing had became chronic. But if it's something else like feline herpes, wouldn't our other cats have caught it too then? Because we have 4 other cats besides Cleo, and we've had Cleo for over a year now.
Thank you for the info though, I'll check into it!

There is no such thing as cat flu. If someone says your cat has cat flu then they are referring to something else, but influenza virus does *not* exist in cats.

My cat in England was diagnosed by my vet as having cat flu. (It wasn't something I was familiar with in the US.) She was treated with a round of anitbiotics and improved. However, it is a chronic condition that is worsened by stress. It is highly contagious.

From what I understand of cat flu, and that IS what they call it even though it's different from the flu humans get, she'll improve both with a round of antibiotics and as she settles into her new home. My cat did. Her owner had died and she was alone in the house for a month. She was very malnourished. Then, probably in the cattery, she contracted cat flu. I saw massive improvements as she settled in. After a few weeks she was symptom free!

My UK vet did advise that my cat from the US be vacinated against cat flu when she arrived in the UK before she was introduced to my UK cat. He confirmed that this was a feline illness that is not in the US. I don't know about Sweden!

PM me if you have more questions!

Are we confusing URI with cat flu?

Just thought I would add this link to Cat Flu as it has some very good information on it!

I hope you can get the antibiotics to help your kitty feel much better soon!

A rose by any other name ........

Cat flu, by my understanding is Calci virus or Herpes virus. But since it has similar symtoms to the human flu, I think people just find it easier to say 'cold' or 'flu' than Calci or herpes.