Cat has herpes?

[Deleted]

My cats eye has been squinty and goopy for a few days so I took her to the vet. He explained that she has herpes. From what I read it seems like this is contracted trough other cat contact or lays dormant from the kitten stage.

My cat is 6 years old and has never gone outside or been exposed to other cats other than her mom and litter when she was born. She came from a house where 2 indoor cats had a litter, so not out in the wild or a shelter so I believe her exposure would be minimal there.

Is this common for herpes?

[Seesaw]

I dunno about herpes, but one of my cats gets goopy eyes. His whole litter got an upper respiratory tract infection when they were still with the momma. One of his sisters lost an eye. It was so sad. He's had goopy eyes and wet sneezes occasionally all his life. It's like he has allergies. I just clean the corners of his eyes occasionally, otherwise he's fine.

[maucat]

My understanding, having 2 cats who've had upper respiratory infections, is that there are several viruses that can cause URIs. One of them is a herpes virus, which is what our cats have.

If you want to help keep the virus from replicating and recurring frequently, make sure there's lysine in her food or you can give lysine treats. That works for us.

[Deleted]

He recommend lysine so I picked that up. Just odd that in 6 years she has never had an outbreak or never been sick. She's not stressed or anything either

[shellfish26]

I have 2 cats, and one is FhV symptomatic. It's extremely common in cats, and there really is no way to predict what causes a flare up. Most likely, my other cat would test positive, but he has never exhibited symptoms. Definitely use the Lysine. Bert has not had symptoms in 3+ years- we have been using it!

[Seesaw]

Now I'm wondering if my kitty's runny eye is herpes. Can the vet test for and identify this virus? Thanks for the bit on the lysine. I've never heard of that.

[milkrations]

My vet thinks my cat contracted herpes from his mom during the birth process. We adopted him when he was 6 months old, so he really could have gotten it anywhere, and he developed a goopy eye (later diagnosed as herpes) shortly thereafter. He is now three and has only had the goopy eye one other time.

I think it is possible to have herpes and never have an outbreak or have them so infrequently that it never gets diagnosed. Is it possible that your kitty got it from his mom?

[audnicole]

Herpes is very very very common. And, not unusual to have a cat that has never before exhibit symptoms, do so all the sudden. I third the Lysine .

[kellbell191]

I agree with aud (as usual). Its really, really common. One of my adults contracted it from a foster kitten last year and lysine controls it just fine. I don't think they normally have any other issues from it, just make sure you treat/prevent eye infections so he doesn't get any scar tissue build up which could impede his sight.

[audnicole]

Herpes is why i buy Terramycin in lots of 150 from ebay, kell

Now, if i could just get doxy like that for the URI.... i'd spend a lot less on vet bills!

[msmerymac]

The majority of cats would probably test positive for herpes. That's how common it is. Most never display symptoms. Usually if your cat gets a herpes infection in his or her eye, it's a one-time deal. Lucky me, I had a cat who had consistent infections. ;-) It would display itself as a small, red bump on the bottom of his right eye - but on the eye itself, not the lid. Only a small percentage of cats have recurring infections. We tried lysine supplements (you can get it in a syringe filled with goo made of chicken and milk protein, which seems to taste good - Nimbus would lick it off his face if it got outside his mouth, or off the end of the syringe). What ended up keeping it away more or less for good was a steroid, but those can also cause heart, liver and kidney problems.