Honey Boy and Herpes
Update on the Honey Cat. He is, mostly, doing well. He's had big fits of sneezing with clear discharge since a bit before we moved. Nothing too serious, but it seemed to be getting worse and worse. I went to talk to Dr Klau the other night and he told me some interesting things. I thought that maybe the psuedomonas had come back. Which is nearly impossible to kill. However, we also talked about how the start of the sneezing came when I started to pack up the apartment in Ventura and then we moved to Portland and moved into Karina's house and then into my apartment. So, stress could be a LARGE factor in his symptoms. Stress usually triggers URI-like symptoms in cats that have herpes.
We decided to try getting some medicated nose drops and trying him on L-Lysine. He's also taking some chlorapheneramine as an antihistamine. It's been 2 days, and he's now asymptomatic and has more energy and seems much more comfortable. So, it seems that the diagnosis fits and the treatment worked. So, lucky him gets to get a small amount of wet food once a day. Rotten beast, he is.<3
I haven't had him as a kitten, and since up to 75% of cats carry the Herpes virus, it's quite likely that he was exposed and not vaccinated in time. I have kept him vaccinated the whole time I have owned him... but that doesn't save him from early exposure. It can have random attacks when the cat becomes stressed. There is no treatment that CURES herpes in cats, but you can help control breakouts. I am going to keep him on the Lysine daily. I am going to continue the nose drops and chlorapheneramine for about another week and see how he does with the URI symptoms. Thankfully, Lysine is pretty darned cheap!
We decided to try getting some medicated nose drops and trying him on L-Lysine. He's also taking some chlorapheneramine as an antihistamine. It's been 2 days, and he's now asymptomatic and has more energy and seems much more comfortable. So, it seems that the diagnosis fits and the treatment worked. So, lucky him gets to get a small amount of wet food once a day. Rotten beast, he is.<3
I haven't had him as a kitten, and since up to 75% of cats carry the Herpes virus, it's quite likely that he was exposed and not vaccinated in time. I have kept him vaccinated the whole time I have owned him... but that doesn't save him from early exposure. It can have random attacks when the cat becomes stressed. There is no treatment that CURES herpes in cats, but you can help control breakouts. I am going to keep him on the Lysine daily. I am going to continue the nose drops and chlorapheneramine for about another week and see how he does with the URI symptoms. Thankfully, Lysine is pretty darned cheap!