Unfortunately, my two 9-year-old cats have had feline herpes since kittenhood. They go a while just fine, then symptoms (usually sneezing and really badly infected eye) break out.
Vets have had me give them L-Lysine and drops and antibiotic ointment for the eyes, etc. Eventually, the symptoms subside again for a while.
Been very lucky, and no problems for a little over three years, then suddenly one of the guys started with symptoms again, the eye being especially bad.
Can’t help but wonder if the meds really help at all, being it is a virus that causes it. It strikes me that it may be one of those deals that the problem lasts two weeks if I use meds and 14 days if I don’t.
Anybody know if these symptoms, especially the eye problem, would stop if left untreated? Not that I’d do it, just wonder.
The eye problem will usually resolve within 3 weeks. Cure is not an option (herpes is forever), so the eye problem will probably reccur later on.
The meds are to prevent complications of the simple flare. The antibiotics to prevent bacterial infection (while the disease is active), of course, and the anti-virals because the vet suspected there may be some corneal involvement and wanted to prevent more damage.
To repeat: Yea, the main problem will stop if untreated, but will reccur later on. And the meds are just there to prevent complications.
One of the things you can do to help minimize the number of flares in the future is to reduce the stress in the cat’s environment as much as you can (or understand, cats can be finicky).
My 11-year old cat just got over a very bad outbreak a few weeks ago. He had a steroid shot for a chronic tooth infection and it just wiped out his immune system. The worst problem he had was that his ability to smell shut down and he wouldn’t eat or drink. In addition to the L-lysine and antibiotics I was force feeding him for a few days to keep enough calories and water down him to tide him over until the symptons subsided. My other cats picked up the virus from him but only had very mild outbreaks - a couple days of sneezing, that was all.
I’ve got him on a daily dose of lysine to keep his immunities up, so hopefully any subsequent outbreaks won’t be so bad. I’ve been taking my own for cold sore prevention for about 30 years and only had one brief outbreak in all that time, so it would appear to work. My vet approves of the daily dose (for the cat), and we’ll just up it a bit the next time he needs a steroid shot.
If you’re interested, the Lysine works by bonding with the herpes virus in an attempt to keep it from attacking the cat (paraphrased from the explanation given to me by a vet I work with). So it may reduce frequency and severity of symptoms, but can’t ever be considered to be a cure.
I’ve found that it’s surprisingly hard to find a house call vet in my area too. I’ve been attempting to get a recommendation for my parents but sadly there doesn’t appear to be anyone who works their neighborhood. It’s probably not as glamorous as working within a brick and mortar practice.
