feline herpes

[jannicat]

Does anyone know the dosage of powdered acyclovir for a 7lb cat?  My little one, "Leroy Jethro Gibbs"  is having a pretty tough time of it and I want to help him get better soon!

[KeeperofCats]

My Floyd has it too, 7 months old not and we have been fighting it all along.  He had some meds, idoxydine, then cibofovir, we have not tried the oral Famvir yet, that is next.  I give him lysine in Duralactin paste.  They love it, the older kitties who remember it from kittenhood come running when they here Floyd licking it off my finger.  It's not cheap but it's an easy way to get the lysine in.  I also bought a flavored powdered lysine that gets sprinkled on his food.  Vet said you really can't give to much lysine, Floyd gets 1000mg a day.  

[opus88]

sorry I gave you wrong info.....the 'message' icon is not on the right hand side of any page it just shows up when you go to your home page...and you do this by clicking My Medhelp on the blue bar at the top of any page....good luck:)

[opus88]

yes we are a great group here with very caring pet parents, I sure hope you stay with us, your experience and compassion is very welcome and a tremendous asset

poor little Jill, I had an older kitty that needed to have an eye removed for different reasons, he adapted jut fine. his name was Opus he was 16 at the time.

Unfortunately I don't believe the gofundme page will be allowed. Medhelp has some very strict rules abt allowing such postings. You can always ask one of the moderators though. you can send a private message by clicking on MESSAGE in the upper right hand side of any page. type in who you want to send it to. If you want to send it to a moderator just type in
MH Community Mgr      in the first box and than your message, when you receive a reply a small (1) will show up beside this same message icon. hope I explained this well enough?
You can private message anyone of us this way..

wishing Jill tons of good vibes for Fridays Vet visit I hope the Vets can at least save the one eye:(
post afterwards and let us know the results okay. My goodness you mean as a private rescue you are expected to pay out of pocket for these Vet bills yourself? that sure would be costly for you and others that do rescue. :(

[Violetcat68]

Baby Jills right eye is protruding signifigantly with a large herpe lesion on it and appears damaged.

It is her left eye I am trying to treat on my own until Friday (payday) The left eye has a small herpe lesion on it. It appears that her eyes must have been bad since she was born or shortly there-after. One eye is beyond repair unfortunately...

As a rescue mom consulting with other rescue families for years - Ive found that we all improvise and try new things outside of the vet from time to time. Most of the time our ideas, modifications to treatments and improvisations work out great! But we rely on our wonderful vets as well.

I am certain Jills eye must be removed... But her left eye should be well eventually. I have seen worse. It is just her age that makes it difficult for vets to treat. Most vets advise that kittens under 8 weeks don't do well with anesthesia.

I will be creating a "Gofundme" page for baby Jill tomorrow after I make her video. Maybe it would be ok for me to post her link here at that time?

Thank you for your prayers (and yes, saying goodbye to these babies in any form, is very difficult EVERY time after nurturing them into their new homes - wherever that may be. You cant help but become attached.

My loving, empathetic and very compassionate daughters make sure all of the kitties feel loved and safe during their stay here - while I keep them healthy  to the best of my abilities =^..^=     "

There seems to be many kind people here... Thank you.

[Violetcat68]

Thank you - anything that may help - I will try. But I am taking her to the vet for a consult Friday. I just took her in to my care yesterday from the girl who had her.

[opus88]

oh gosh just read your other posts....the kittys name is Jill...and she may need to have the eye removed? oh that is so sad. Have you phoned and talked to your Vet abt the pediatric oral suspension and see what they will tell you, if its appropriate to use and how much on one so tiny. the poor baby. I wish we could be of more help here but we are not Vets....
please make that call if theres a chance it will save her eye, its certainly worth asking isn't it.
what a difficult job you do, it must be hard not to get so attached. prayers for Jill♥ for sure

[opus88]

thats our Jade...she doesn't miss a thing, she saw your profile pic(beautiful kitty btw) and picked up on the fact you've been a rescue for a number of years...this I see why you are trying to cut corners.

good for you!!! takes a mighty person to rescue and I commend you fully

yes I would stick with the terramycin if thats what was prescribed unless you talk to a Vet, wouldn't want to advice something and make matters awhole lot worse for this kitty.

but I will advise you on something thats going to help as much as the antibiotic...most Vet do prescribe this not only the holistic ones...Ive used it on mind during a flare up as well. its an amino acid and I'll give you the link on the best brand to order b/c it has no fillers and no nasty ingredients like soy, salt, sugar preservatives etc. its also very inexpensive. $6.44

I've just never used it on a kitten so young, so I would suggest even tho the flare up is severe that you use only half what is normally used. it comes with a scoop inside, measure out 1/4 of that scoop and that will amount to just abt 300mg. use that for a week to ten days than can cut in half again for long term maintence if necessary.

I order all my products from iherb, the shipping is only $4 and it comes real quick

http://www.iherb.com/Carlson-Labs-L-Lysine-Amino-Acid-Powder-3-53-oz-100-g/13608#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-US&w=l-lysine%20carlson%20labs&rc=162&sr=null&ic=2

good luck with little Violet, keep us posted plz

[Violetcat68]

The4 week old kitten with the eye herpes problem is a little long haired black baby kitty "Jill." She will be up for adoption once we get her health conditions under control and she is old enough to be fixed.

Prayers for baby "Jill."

[Violetcat68]

The kitty in the pick is baby "Boo." she was born with paralyzed back  legs. She had to be euthanized at 12 weeks old after her rectum inverted and closed up. It was the oddest thing ever. We are very sad for her loss. You would have never known she was paralyzed. She got around fine, and climbed and played.
Ive never taken in a kitten so young with eye herpes which is why I consulted this forum. One eye is so bad that I think it will have to be removed. I will know Friday...

[Violetcat68]

Thank you. I figured she was too young... Ill stick with the Terramycin ointment.

[Jade59]

Hello and welcome.  If that is your kitten in your profile pic, she certainly does look Violet!  Gorgeous and unique looking kitty.  

I couldn't agree more with Opus.  I see you've been rescuing for 15yrs.  That's wonderful.  Like you, we are only members on this forum.  It would be very remiss for anyone to give you advice on this.  Opus's advice was perfect.  

[opus88]

Did you get this from yr Vet? Must not have or they wld have told you the dosage!!!
I advise you VERY strongly not to use anything not Vet approved ESPECIALLY on such a young kitten, an under dosage wouldn't do anything except build immunity to the drug and to high a dosage can cause severe toxic reactions
PLZ don't risk the life of this kitten and consult a Vet asap

[Violetcat68]

What would be the dose of pediatric oral suspension acyclivor for a 4 week old kitten with a severe eye herpe issue?

[jannicat]

It's been a long time, but... the way I give LJ Gibbs his L-lysine is to mix it in the juice from canned cat food in a syringe.  To do this, first measure the juice into a syringe bottle by draining it out of the can into a small container and pulling it up into the syringe 1ml at a time.  It helps if you use a small 1ml syringe to begin with - for each 1ml that you get, add 250 mg. of the L-lysine.  I usually get four 1ml syringe-fulls from the can and when they have been emptied into the syringe bottle I open two 500 ml. capsules of pure L-lysine into the bottle, recap it and shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds.  This makes four 1ml doses of 250 mg. of L-lysine each.  Insert the syringe quickly behind the canine tooth on one side of the mouth pointing toward the throat, plunge the syringe, and rub the throat to make the cat swallow.  Gibbs doesn't even blink now that he's used to it and it doesn't taste bad!

[kittycatpeach]

I just got some for my kittens with herpes and the vet gave me  Famciclovir or also known as Famvir or also known as Acyclovir at 125mg. tablet cut in half for a small kitten so for a 7 lb cat you would most likel.y give the whole 125mg tablet and its given only twice a day--never 5 times a day! You would ruin the cats kidneys at 5x's a day!

[spirit3]

Just wanted to compliment Jethro's name!! I love a good, original pet name!!

[Jade59]

OHHHH, I see!  I too, take Acyclovir - 400mgs.  Gosh though, that's going to get expensive giving Gibbs that 5times a day.  Just so I'm clear (because this is interesting) the Mercks Manual says 200mgs, 5times a day, but your vet says only 5-10mgs per 7lb body weight 5times a day?  I don't know if I'd chance it with such a large difference of opinion of mgs per day.  And if only 5-10mgs out of 400, you'd have to be so careful in weighing out the tablet dust...right?  

When I was searching online earlier for Acyclovir *powder*, I came across a site stating some people have given up to 1000mgs of Lysine per day without incident.  There were also alternative suggestions besides Lysine, but I didn't write anything down since I was concentrating on Acyclovir. Maybe just up the Lysine?  Your poor boy.  If the Lysine isn't helping and you need to ADD the Acyclovir, he must really be having a hard time.  I'm so sorry.  Jade's had some pretty severe incidents herself.

Best of luck to you in your search!

Nah, cats are so easy to medicate, we don't need to know an easier way.  Of COURSE we want to know!!!! Lol...

[jannicat]

Yes, it's acyclovir, I take it myself!  In fact, it's my 400mg tablets, crushed and divided into 200mg doses.  My vetsays it's the same as what he could prescribe, so to go ahead and use it.  His dosage information is considerably different from everything I have found online though. (He has not prescribed it before now.)  His information says 5-10 mg. per 7lbs body weight, and all the other sources I found, including Mercks Veterinary Manual, say 200 mg. five time a day.  If ANYBODY has used oral acyclovir for feline herpes, please send me a note or a message and let me know the dosage prescribed to you and how it worked for you?  Or any information at all?  Thanks!  BTW, Gibbs is also taking 250 mg. of L-lysine twice a day.  If anybody wants to know a great way to disguise medication so a cat will take it, let me know...

[Jade59]

merceditas...thank you for your post.  I've never heard of Acyclovir in powdered form either.  After some research, all I find are tablets, capsules or oral suspension - just like you said.

jannicat...are you sure what you have is Acyclovir??  

[merceditas]

Are you sure is not a powder for suspension or inyection, right? I've never heard of aciclovir that comes in ordinary powder formulation! The boxes usually have all the things you need to know when it comes to the use of the meds, it says the dosage and the administration route.
Anyway, if the drug was given to you by the vet, please call him and ask him exactly what you have to do. If using aciclovir was your idea, please take the animal to the vet to make sure you don't do anything harmfull for him !!! I've seen far too many cases of pets being intoxicated because the owners weren't sure of what to do and did what THEY thought was the best idea.

[Jade59]

Hello and welcome!  I was just answering your PM, but wanted to check the forum to see if you'd posted here - I'm glad you did so I'll answer you here. And I'm glad I read your question again since I was responding to the dosing of L-Lysine, not Acyclovir.  

Hmm...I'm afraid I don't know about the dosing of powdered Acyclovir.  Just curious, but did you get this from your vet?  L-Lysine is much much cheaper; you can buy it at any health food store and since you run a rescue (Bless you for that!) would imagine you'll be giving it to everyone so the less expensive, the better.  We've only been given Acyclovir ointment for Jade's eyes (tiny tube was VERY expensive!) so I have no idea about powdered form, but someone else might.  If you should want to go with Lysine instead, the usual beginning dosage is 500mgs, then once the episode begins to clear up, drop down to a maintenance dose of 250mgs daily.  

Good luck and sorry I couldn't answer your original question.