Hi all. Been a while since I've posted...
My kitty has an on-going cough that will not go away. It seemed to start back in the summer, and has been a reoccurring thing since then. I never noticed her doing this in the past, so I took her to the vet. Three separate vets have said she's fine, and that it's probably just Feline Herpes flaring up. It's usually accompanied by congestion and some minimal sneezing. When she coughs she crouches down and sticks her neck out, which was what initially concerned me because I thought it was asthma. The vet I trust does not think its asthma because he took an x-ray and said it didn't look asthma. I don't know her medical history, but she's been with me for two years and the congestion/coughing is a fairly recent thing.
I've been using crushed up Lysine tablets from Target's Up&Up brand (all I could find on short notice). When she coughs, I crush up half a tablet and she gets half in her morning wet food, and the other half in the evening wet food. I don't like to medicate my cat because I don't know what else is in the tablets (other ingredients), so the longest I've given her the Lysine has been 3 days in a row. I notice when she gets the Lysine for a few days, the coughing stops entirely for a few weeks. But then eventually the coughing/congestion comes back until I give her more Lysine. Then it goes away again, its like a cycle. She is otherwise (even during the congestion/coughing) very friendly, playful, and she eats and drinks normally.
1) Does this sound like possible feline herpes flare ups?
2) Can you recommend a cat-safe brand of Lysine?? I prefer a tablet that I can crush up, or a powder. She will not take pills and she will not eat the Lysine cat treats at all, even though I tried a few different brands.
3) Assuming I buy a cat safe brand of Lysine, is it safe to continue giving her Lysine intermittently to keep the flare ups to a minimum? The vets did not tell me about Lysine at all, I only found out about it from here and looking up info online...
Thanks everyone!
My kitty has an on-going cough that will not go away. It seemed to start back in the summer, and has been a reoccurring thing since then. I never noticed her doing this in the past, so I took her to the vet. Three separate vets have said she's fine, and that it's probably just Feline Herpes flaring up. It's usually accompanied by congestion and some minimal sneezing. When she coughs she crouches down and sticks her neck out, which was what initially concerned me because I thought it was asthma. The vet I trust does not think its asthma because he took an x-ray and said it didn't look asthma. I don't know her medical history, but she's been with me for two years and the congestion/coughing is a fairly recent thing.
I've been using crushed up Lysine tablets from Target's Up&Up brand (all I could find on short notice). When she coughs, I crush up half a tablet and she gets half in her morning wet food, and the other half in the evening wet food. I don't like to medicate my cat because I don't know what else is in the tablets (other ingredients), so the longest I've given her the Lysine has been 3 days in a row. I notice when she gets the Lysine for a few days, the coughing stops entirely for a few weeks. But then eventually the coughing/congestion comes back until I give her more Lysine. Then it goes away again, its like a cycle. She is otherwise (even during the congestion/coughing) very friendly, playful, and she eats and drinks normally.
1) Does this sound like possible feline herpes flare ups?
2) Can you recommend a cat-safe brand of Lysine?? I prefer a tablet that I can crush up, or a powder. She will not take pills and she will not eat the Lysine cat treats at all, even though I tried a few different brands.
3) Assuming I buy a cat safe brand of Lysine, is it safe to continue giving her Lysine intermittently to keep the flare ups to a minimum? The vets did not tell me about Lysine at all, I only found out about it from here and looking up info online...
Thanks everyone!