Kitten herpes -- What to expect

[Juniper_Junebug]

Anyone have experience with a kitten with symptomatic herpes (wheezing, sneezing, eye weeping, etc.) they can share? My Juno had a URI when I adopted her at 4 months. It scared me, she seemed to be retching so badly (apparently, coughing and getting rid of mucus). We've been to three vets since then to get her various symptoms treated (I couldn't get into my vet of choice for six weeks). All three vets think she probably has herpes and that symptoms will persist to some degree until her immune system matures. She's six months now and seems healthy except for regular and frequent sneezing, mild stuffiness, and the occasional retch-cough (which still freaks me out when it happens).

For those who have been there, what did the progress look like? Did symptoms ever go away? Did you ever wonder if kitty also had an allergy that you were missing because you assumed it was herpes?

(FWIW, I am giving her lysine regularly).

 

[neely]

When we adopted our last cat she developed a serious URI within four days after bringing her home. In addition to antibiotics I had to bring her to the vet daily for nebulizer treatments but they really helped her.

I thought this Article about Feline Herpes would have some helpful information for you especially since it mentions using lysine:
Feline Herpes And Rhinotracheitis – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Kieka]

My rainbow cat had feline herpes and a bad URI when I got him. He was sneezing blood for a few days and had to be spoon fed a thin slurry for a good week. Once he got over the worst of it he improved until you couldn't even tell he had been sick. He was more prone to kitty colds and took a while to recover when he did get sick for the rest of his life. He was 6-8 months old when I got him so his immune system was pretty close to mature at that point.

 

[dkb817]

My Simon developed a severe URI about a week or so after we'd brought him home - started with slight sneezing, progressed into constant 2-3 minute long attacks, into sneezing blood because his nasal passages were so irritated, and eventually got to the point where it was like he couldn't catch his breath. It took a couple of weeks (and a round of an antibiotic - likely Clavamox, but I can't remember 100%) to get him straightened out. For nearly two years, he remained mostly symptom free, with the exception of an occasional sneeze. He had a flare-up about a month/month and a half ago, gave it a week to sort itself and when it just progressively got worse, we preemptively put him on a 10-day course of Clavamox (which has caused some intense GI upset and moved its way onto my 'do not give' med list). It worked though, and the flare-up has passed.

From the way my vet explained it, Simon will now always be at risk for flare-ups (his seem to be caused by extreme stress). Our protocol looks to be that we give it a week to a week and a half to sort itself out, but if it doesn't, we do a 10-day course of antibiotics - which are pretty easy to give as I mix the liquid in with his wet food that he loves more than life itself

 

[stephanietx]

Have any of the vets done a culture and sensitivity test of any discharge or mucus to check for a secondary infection? The retch cough sounds like what my asthmatic kitties do, but not my herpes girl. My herpes girl is snotty, especially when the weather changes and pollen is high, sneezy, and will have runny eyes and congestion. I run a vaporizor for her in the room where she sleeps at night. She is 15 yrs old and we've been dealing with this since she came to live with us. She tends to have more good days than bad days, but she's on a good regimen that controls most of her symptoms.