cat blowing snot bubbles from nose and constantly congested

[bfrank]

Cha Cha has herpes and has been battling it ever since she was exposed but hasn't been able to overcome it like my other cat.  She is always congested, hacking, or has a snotty nose.  I have tried Lysine powder in her food; Lysine treats which I have to stuff in pill pockets, but she rarely will eat them; Lactoferrin; vitamins in her food; Dinovite, etc.  Nothing helps except a low dose of Prednisone, which I will only give her if she's miserable.  Anybody else experienced this with one of your felines?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[donutte]

How long has she been sick? I'm guessing you've taken her to the vet if you have prednisone for her.

 

[stephanietx]

I have a herpes kitty who also has a lot of upper respiratory issues.  Her big thing is sneezing.  I would encourage you to get a culture & sensitivity test done on any nasal drainage or discharge.  That will let you know if you're dealing with a secondary infection and if it's bacterial or viral and which antibiotic will effectively treat it.  I would also ask the vet for some nose drops such as Gentamicin.  They are usually prescribed as eye drops, but work great as nose drops as well.

Prednisone is one of the worst things you can give to a herpes kitty because steroids suppress the immune system and can make it easier for your kitty to get a secondary infection or another illness.  Herpes kitties already have compromised immune systems, so you need to work to build up the overall health of your kitty.

I would recommend changing your kitty to an all grain-free diet.  There are now many great options on the market that are very reasonably priced.  Even the classic Fancy Feast pates are grain free.  Resume giving Lysine, 1000mg a day, broken up into two doses of 500mg each.  For lysine to really work, it needs to be given twice a day because it is flushed out of the body when the kitty urinates since it's an amino acid. 

Next, consider adding a daily antihistamine to see if that helps clear up some of the snot and congestion.  Your kitty may have airborne allergies and this might help.  You can search the forums for suggestions on what kind of antihistamine to use and the dose, but be sure to run it by your vet. 

Lastly, make sure your home is as stress free as possible.  Keep to a routine.  If you have a high traffic home or it's loud, consider running Feliway diffusers to help your kitty de-stress.  Stress just aggravates herpes and causes a flare up of the symptoms.  I have found that when my diffusers are low or out, my kitty starts sneezing more. 

 

[bfrank]

Thanks for responding.  I took Cha Cha to the vet yesterday, and he gave her a Prednisone shot.  I can tell that she feels better, but I hate resorting to that as it's a last option for me to utilize when I'm desperate.  Cha is a rescue and, as such, I'm lucky if I can catch her, let alone put in eye drops.  Then I will be the one visiting the doctor.  

I can try grain-free food.  Now that she is feeling better, she's taking the Lysine tablets.  When she doesn't feel well, I can't get her to take them even in a pill pocket.  I do sprinkle it in the food bowl also.  I also sprinkle vitamin pellets in the food bowl.  I've tried giving her a low-dose antihistamine but haven't really put a lot of effort into it yet as I was trying other alternatives.  I will also try that.  

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise and experience.

 

[zed xyzed]

Is that Cha Chan in the avatar? She is beautiful.  

 

[bfrank]

Cha Cha, one of my two herpes cats, developed diabetes from the Prednisone, so she is completely off of it. She is on wet food now, but is having bouts of sneezing with strings of snot coming out of her nose and sticking on her face. I think she's also "hacking" trying to clear her nose. Does anyone have any new ideas or suggestions from my original 2016 post?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I don't really have any suggestions, but thought it might help other members who have first hand experience with this to offer new ideas if they know what Cha Cha is currently taking - such as the L-lysine and any anti-histamines, etc?

 

[christfawk]

Hey I'm sorry to hear about the troubles you're having. I wanted to say I have an FIV+ herpes kitty who I was giving L-Lysine to, I ended up stopping it because I read a few veterinary journals that suggests that the lysine hasn't had any definitive therapeutic effects and that it may block another essential amino acid however I forget which one. I know you mentioned handling your kitty was difficult so my suggestion of gel tears and a cold compress on the eyes to bring down inflammation really won't help, but that's what my vet suggested during flare ups. The diabetes is very unfortunate as I was going to suggest just continuing the shots because my boss has a cat with similar issues and he gets the shots.

The best thing I can think of is try adding some hot humidifiers and keep the house extremely stress free and dust free. Maybe go so far as to invest in some FeliWay diffuses that help calm cat anxiety? I'm so sorry you're going through this.

 

[She's a witch]

As weird as it sounds, I’m managing my cats’ herpes and calici symptoms with the probiotics with l.
acidophilus And it’s working well, no more runny nose and crying eyes. Maybe that’s something you want to talk to your vet about.

 

[stephanietx]

Cha Cha, one of my two herpes cats, developed diabetes from the Prednisone, so she is completely off of it. She is on wet food now, but is having bouts of sneezing with strings of snot coming out of her nose and sticking on her face. I think she's also "hacking" trying to clear her nose. Does anyone have any new ideas or suggestions from my original 2016 post?

Have you ever had any of the discharge cultured to see if she has a secondary infection? This really was key to my herpes kitty's improvement. The culture will tell if there's an infection and if it's viral or bacterial. A sensitivity test will tell the vet which antibiotic, if any, will help treat the infection.

We also have added colloidal silver to her diet and I've begun using CBD oil to help with inflammation. Additionally, we give her a daily antihistaime. When she gets especially snotty and sneezy, we use Tobramycin drops (Gentamicin work better IMO) in her nose, just 1 drop/nostril.