JD's persistent URI--is it possible L-lysine is making it worse?

[hazelrunpack]

It's starting to look like JD's URI is going to be chronic. He's had gooby eyes, sneezing fits and a runny nose since he arrived. As a last resort, and after being told by the vet that, at best, it would help and, at worst, it would do no harm, we decided to try L-lysine.

We got some L-lysine from a pet supply store. It's chewable and formulated especially for cats. 250 mg per chew. It says one per day for kittens, 2 per day for cats. Since we don't know exactly how old JD is, we started with 1 chew.

He ate it, but then threw up his breakfast. The next day, I tried another, which he just gummed and spit out. So I gave him a day off, then sliced up a half chew for his morning meal the next day. He kept that down, so we graduated to 1/2 chew in the morning and 1/2 at night. He's had about 3 days of lysine in a row without nausea now.

However, his sneezing is worse, he's begun coughing again (he had been coughing early on but after a few weeks it had been much reduced), and his eye goobies are pretty bad. Does this mean that his immune system is ramping up and fighting whatever is ailing him or does this mean that the L-lysine is actually making him worse? Is it safe to continue the L-lysine for a while longer?

[Longblades]

I don't know. I just want to say I hope it gets better quickly. When a mother and kitten I got from the Human Society both developed URI (the Humane Society shelter is probably where they caught it) the Vet had me give them Aspirin. You can give very small amounts of Aspirin to cats but best only on VEt's orders. The kitten weighed just +one pound. The Vet had me cutting a baby Aspirin into eighths. Then I had to guess how much resulting dust equalled 1/8 of what I'd started with. It was not fun.

JD, you cut this out and get better.

[hazelrunpack]

Interesting! What did the aspirin do? Were they feverish?

I'd settle for a little improvement--I feel like we're going backward from where we were before the L-lysine. I guess I'll give it a chance to work and continue the dosing for another few days--unless he gets even worse, in which case I'll just drop the L-lysine entirely. Sounds like a plan, anyway!

(Oh, and I keep telling JD the same thing! Cut this out and get better!! Thanks for the well-wishes!)

[Longblades]

Yes, they both had temperatures. Taking a kitten's temperature and an adult cat you just got, that's not fun either.

[Reg]

Hi HRP:

Sorry to hear you are having such an issue with JD and his upper respiratory problems. I had considerable problems with our late Missy a few years ago and my vet - at the time - suggested using L - Lysine, which I did. She recommended starting at low dosage of 250 mg twice a day up to 500 mg twice a day for a week and then dropping off to the 250 mg for maintenance. It seemed to help to a degree. I also used a drop of Colloidal Silver in the eyes 2 or 3 times a day which seemed to relieve a lot of pain and allowed her to have her eyes open properly. I would try to put a drop into her nostrils from time to time, but she was not impressed with that. This also helped to relieve congestion.

Something that I found contributed to the problem, was stress within our human family. The animals seem to pick up on it quickly. So quite possibly JD could still be under some sort of stress - being new family surroundings. And who knows what he was under before coming to you. I find that some cats have a long memory. And if he's one of them, this could be part of the problem.

Something I found with Missy was to make sure she was on quality food - so I made my own raw food and was really surprised at the difference it made. Quality canned cat food may have the same ability, but I don't do that.

I'm including a couple of web sites that might be of interest.

If there is anything I can assist with, let me know.

http://holisticat.com/en/acute-conditions/37-uri.html

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/f...onjunctivitis/

[hazelrunpack]

Thanks for those links, Reg!

Where would I get Colloidal Silver? Health food store, maybe? Or would a pet supply place have some?

One new thing that might be stressing him--he's undergoing hormonal changes as he matures. He won't be neutered for another 16 days--we and the vet agreed that he needed to be healthier before we stressed him with a vet stay like that. But we've noticed he's maturing and I'm sure that must be causing some stress. I know he's been trying to sneak outside--which is odd for a cat that doesn't like the feel of grass on his feet...which makes me think wanderlust is kicking in. Thankfully, except for bobcats, he's not likely to pick up the scent of any fems in heat out here.

I wish JD could tolerate 500 mg of L-lysine, but he seems to have trouble keeping half that dose down. I wonder if I should find some capsulated L-lysine--maybe he's intolerant to something other than the L-Lysine in the chews we found?

I was thinking about a raw diet. Do you have any links to good intro material on feeding cats raw?

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, and I think the L-lysine was actually helping--now that he's off it, he's more congested. If there's no effect on the stool this afternoon after having been off it a while, I'll put him back on 250 mg L-lysine tonight.