L-Lysine questions please.....

[feralvr]

My rincess: Perla has been dealing with a very, very bad herpes virus that just won't let go. I just want to pick some brains on the Lysine front. Much appreciated......

1. What is the highest, safe dose you can give a cat daily who is suffering a herpes flare-up?
2. How long can you give that highest dose of Lysine each day i. e. one week? two weeks? before you go down to the maintenance dosage.
3. Is it really safe to give the maintenance dose of 250 mg./day for a cat who is permanently infected and shedding the herpes virus?
4. (this may be a dumb one... but) Does the Lysine lose it's effective benefit's against herpes flare-ups if the cat has been on and off the supplement for many months?

My vet's both say only 500 mg. per day - but that is not helping her. If I go to 1000 mg. per day I see a slight improvement. But vet's do not recommend that dosage. I don't want to "overdose" her on Lysine Thanks for your responses in advance

 

[carolina]

My rincess: Perla has been dealing with a very, very bad herpes virus that just won't let go. I just want to pick some brains on the Lysine front. Much appreciated......
1. What is the highest, safe dose you can give a cat daily who is suffering a herpes flare-up?
2. How long can you give that highest dose of Lysine each day i. e. one week? two weeks? before you go down to the maintenance dosage.
3. Is it really safe to give the maintenance dose of 250 mg./day for a cat who is permanently infected and shedding the herpes virus?
4. (this may be a dumb one... but) Does the Lysine lose it's effective benefit's against herpes flare-ups if the cat has been on and off the supplement for many months?
My vet's both say only 500 mg. per day - but that is not helping her. If I go to 1000 mg. per day I see a slight improvement. But vet's do not recommend that dosage. I don't want to "overdose" her on Lysine Thanks for your responses in advance

1-L-Lysine is water soluble and it is really hard to overdose on..... The maintenance dose here in my house is 500mg/day, 250mg am and pm and the dose during flare ups is 1000mg a day.
2- for as long as necessary
3- yes, Lysine can be given for life - there is absolutely no harm to do so.... on the contrary.....
4- never heard of it...... not to say that it doesn't happen, but I never heard of it - it is not an antibiotic - it is just an amino-acid that prevents the virus from multiplying; thus I do not think that they get a resistance.
To your question/your vet's concern - you will not overdose her - she will use what she needs, and the rest will be disposed of via her urine :nod:

 

[feralvr]

Thank you, Carolina . You have put my to rest about having to give her 1000 mg. per day for now till she improves.

 

[cat person]

My

Perla has been dealing with a very, very bad herpes virus that just won't let go. I just want to pick some brains on the Lysine front.

Much appreciated......

1. What is the highest, safe dose you can give a cat daily who is suffering a herpes flare-up?

Please note, my answers are in red font.

*These are my experiences as a cat owner, based on ONE hybrid exotic cat** **I have NEVER used it on a pure domestic**

 

[nekochan]

My vet told me to give my cats 500 mg twice a day (total 1000 mg a day) during flare-ups, for as long as the flare-up occurs. The rest of the time, when I was using Lysine treats I gave them up to two 250mg lysine treats per day so up to 500mg a day but sometimes less. Nowadays unless someone is having a URI, I just sprinkle it on their dry food because most of my cats won't eat it in treats or mixed in wet food and it's too stressful for them to force a pill on them every day if they're not having any symptoms.

I actually don't know if they do have herpes but my vet says the lysine won't hurt so I might as well do it. We do think one of my cats Church has the infection but he hasn't had a flare-up since he was a kitten. I've read that some cats do "outgrow" it like that.

 

[cat person]

I sure hope my Savannah is one of those cats! Was that in some type of "scientific" or veterinarian literature?

 

[stephanietx]

The important thing to know about Lysine is that it needs to stay in the kitty's system, so it needs to be given every 12 hours as it's shed in urine.  Also, it can take up to 6 weeks to see any benefit of Lysine.

 

[feralvr]

Thank you all SO much for your responses. Much appreciated. OK - I must always give it twice daily - I absolutely do that when giving the 1000 mg. - divided into two doses. BUT when she was only getting 500 mg. per day, I was only giving it in the morning. That could be part of the issue with the Lysine not working well enough - giving it once daily..

 

[carolina]

Thank you all SO much for your responses. Much appreciated. OK - I must always give it twice daily - I absolutely do that when giving the 1000 mg. - divided into two doses. BUT when she was only getting 500 mg. per day, I was only giving it in the morning. That could be part of the issue with the Lysine not working well enough - giving it once daily..

Ohhhhh yeah - it must be given in two doses - always - glad Stephanie wrote that in there :nod:

 

[feralvr]

I actually don't know if they do have herpes but my vet says the lysine won't hurt so I might as well do it. We do think one of my cats Church has the infection but he hasn't had a flare-up since he was a kitten. I've read that some cats do "outgrow" it like that.

I sure hope my Savannah is one of those cats! Was that in some type of "scientific" or veterinarian literature?

I have not read that - :hmm: BUT that would be great to know if that is possible. I just know that once they are infected with the Herpes - they are carriers/shedders of the virus for life ...... some never have any flare-ups whatsoever BUT if the cat has some immune disorder then the Herpes will rear it's ugly head and also come on under times of great stress.

Thanks again for your responses

 

[cat person]

I have not read that -

BUT that would be great to know if that is possible. I just know that once they are infected with the Herpes - they are carriers/shedders of the virus for life

...... some never have any flare-ups whatsoever BUT if the cat has some immune disorder then the Herpes will rear it's ugly head

and also come on under times of great stress.
Thanks again for your responses

No, pure domestic cat, I have ever owned, ever had a flare up. Or, at least a noticeable one(s).

Anyway, I want to add, I gave my F3 Savannah, 3 doses daily (when giving 1,500 mg/day), mixed in some canned food. In order, to make sure he ate it ALL. I found making sure the cat ate it ALL, per "session" helped the Lysine work quicker. I saw "results" in seventy two hours, but, my Savannah was on deaths door.

I also found, opening my windows, in the warmer months, helped get rid of the virus. I have been told that outside air can help kill the virus. I am NOT sure if that is true. But, it seemed to help my cat.

*Please note, these are my experiences, based on ONE hybrid exotic cat!*

 

[feralvr]

No, pure domestic cat, I have ever owned, ever had a flare up. Or, at least a noticeable one(s).

Anyway, I want to add, I gave my F3 Savannah, 3 doses daily (when giving 1,500 mg/day), mixed in some canned food. In order, to make sure he ate it ALL. I found making sure the cat ate it ALL, per "session" helped the Lysine work quicker. I saw "results" in seventy two hours, but, my Savannah was on deaths door.

I also found, opening my windows, in the warmer months, helped get rid of the virus. I have been told that outside air can help kill the virus. I am NOT sure if that is true. But, it seemed to help my cat.

*Please note, these are my experiences, based on ONE hybrid exotic cat!*

I am glad your Savannah survived the virus and sorry he was so sick :heart3:. I also make sure Perla eats up all of the Lysine - so far so good with her eating it up as I mix with her favorite wet foods. I wish I could open up the windows - it is in the twenties. BUT I could certainly breeze the house for a few minutes to get some fresh cold air through here. HMMMMM - good idea - and sound's but refreshing. :happy3:

 

[cat person]

I am glad your Savannah survived the virus and sorry he was so sick

. I also make sure Perla eats up all of the Lysine - so far so good with her eating it up as I mix with her favorite wet foods. I wish I could open up the windows - it is in the twenties. BUT I could certainly breeze the house for a few minutes to get some fresh cold air through here. HMMMMM - good idea - and sound's

but refreshing.

I am not sure, if, you need to do it in cold whether. If, you try it, let me know if it helps any. Hope Pearla gets better soon.

 

[lilblu]

Feralvr, are you absolutely sure your cat has a viral infection and not a bacterial infection? I had two veterinarians prescribe L-Lysine for my two cats who were having a bad herpes virus flare-up. They said it was a viral infection and did not want to prescribe antibiotics. A few years later the symptoms were still bad and a third veterinarian decided it wouldn't hurt to try Clavamox for a week and the symptoms (mainly eye discharge) began to disappear. We ended up giving the cats two weeks worth of Clavamox and all their URI/herpes virus symptoms disappeared. I was shocked and upset that the first two vets were wrong and wonder what kind of damage was done to my cats after having a misdiagnosed bacterial infection for that many years.

About once or twice a year the one cat has a little flare-up but it eventually goes away with some L-Lysine. This year I suspected a bacterial infection since it wasn't improving and asked the vet for some antibiotics. It took three weeks worth of Clavamox to finally clear everything up. So you may want to try Clavamox if nothing else is working, it could be a bacterial infection.

 

[nekochan]

Regarding cats "growing out" of the flare-ups, I don't know whether there are any studies on this, but I heard it from my vet and know of several others whose vets said the same thing. If you do a search online for cats growing out of "flare-ups" or recurring URIs from feline herpes you will find a lot of other people saying the same thing as well. All I know from personal experience is my cat Church had the repeated URIs as a kitten, which my vet diagnosed as feline herpes and he has not had one since he grew up, even during stressful times such as a cross-country flight and move to a new house.

 

[dinah]

Regarding cats "growing out" of the flare-ups, I don't know whether there are any studies on this, but I heard it from my vet and know of several others whose vets said the same thing. If you do a search online for cats growing out of "flare-ups" or recurring URIs from feline herpes you will find a lot of other people saying the same thing as well. All I know from personal experience is my cat Church had the repeated URIs as a kitten, which my vet diagnosed as feline herpes and he has not had one since he grew up, even during stressful times such as a cross-country flight and move to a new house.

I know personally a cat that had very bad herpes for about the first year of his life, he was constantly sneezing blood all over everything.  He has been symptom-free for about 5 years now with no lysine ever.
 

 

[dinah]

I also found, opening my windows, in the warmer months, helped get rid of the virus. I have been told that outside air can help kill the virus. I am NOT sure if that is true. But, it seemed to help my cat.

*Please note, these are my experiences, based on ONE hybrid exotic cat!*

I was wondering about that.  We will be moving into a house with a fenced yard in April and I have been looking forward to finding out if being outside sometimes will improve the health of my kitty.
 

 

[abowskicat]

My vet recommended 1000 mg daily as a maintenance dose. That's what it says on the tub the medication comes in as a recommended dose, as well. He still has flare-ups with that, so during the start of one we'll give him 1500 and it seems to help somewhat.

 

[blackkitten]

I am not too familiar with L-Lysine but I know you can gets cat treats for L-Lysine.

 

[maureen brad]

My cats receive 100o every day. Remy has FIV and FHV, Desmond has FHV. If I lower the dosage for Remy he is a mess ( eyes tearing,etc.) If I lower it for Desi he starts sneezing. I recently added Bovine Lactoferin and I think that is helping too. My vet says to five it for life. I buy the power on Amazon, so much easier to just sprinkle it in the food. My cats won't eat the treats.