My 16yo cat with FHV has good blood work but keeps getting sick

[katmaz77]

Hi all,
This is my first time posting, and I am open to any support/suggestions/insights as I am so desperate to help my sweet boy Shnuggles.

A little history about Shnuggles: I adopted him as a kitten from a friend who could no longer keep him when I was 13, so his beginnings are a bit of a mystery. I believe he originally came from a humane society. His first vet visits revealed he had a mild respiratory issue but was healthy. He had no health issues until he was about 14 and it was revealed that he has the feline herpes virus and a mild case of asthma. He is an indoor cat so I believe he may have picked up the virus as a kitten in the humane society. The vet prescribed lysine supplements and prednisolone for the asthma.

Since the diagnoses this has been an ongoing issue with flare ups happening every few months. Things came to a head when I had to move cities for work last August 2019. A full examination at a new vet revealed he needed a few teeth pulled. This new vet also took him off of prednisolone and onto a cat puffer as needed. The move and the surgery were a lot of stress on Shnuggles and I feel like he has never *fully* recovered. The stress lead to more frequent herpes flare ups and weight loss, however he has always bounced back to a good place.

More recently he stopped bouncing back as well from these flare ups. Beginning of June I noticed him having trouble walking and extremely lethargic. We got blood work and xrays done. His blood work is all good but he had serious inflammation of the brain of which the vet could not find a clear cause. A couple weeks of Amoxicillin and he was looking the best I had seen him in a while. We had a couple good active weeks, only for him to come down with a serious case of dehydration 2 weeks ago which are being treated with SubQ fluids at home. He has also suddenly lost a lot of mobility in his hind legs. He is back on Prednisolone as well as Azitrhomycin to control the herpres virus. We are still on SubQ fluids but have dropped down to every other day.

 

[katmaz77]

I accidentally posted without finishing!
Currently his symptoms are:
- Mild dehydration
-Lethargy
-Loss of mobility in hind legs
-cognitive slowness
-not great poops.. they have a lot of mucus in them.

Aside from this he is still showing an interest in food and water, is social and can still use his litterbox.
If anyone has any recommendations or has dealt with a similar situation I would love to hear from you!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I really don't have much of anything to offer, but did want to point out that some of his symptoms (lethargy, loss of mobility, cognitive slowness) could be related to the brain inflammation. So, without knowing the actual cause of the inflammation, your vet is taking the right steps with the Pred and antibiotics. It may be that these treatments will need to be done on a long term basis. Has your vet ever considered an anti-viral treatment for the herpes as well?

Has the vet suggested collecting a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid and having it tested? MRIs and/or CT-scans could also be done to to evaluate the brain inflammation as well.

I am unsure of how the dehydration or the mucus in the stool plays a role with the herpes or the inflammation. Does the vet know what the cause of either is? If the vet doesn't know about his stool, I would definitely call them to tell them about that aspect.

Sorry I can't be of any real help. Hopefully other members will soon see this post and have some ideas to offer.

 

[CatLover49]

I accidentally posted without finishing!
Currently his symptoms are:
- Mild dehydration
-Lethargy
-Loss of mobility in hind legs
-cognitive slowness
-not great poops.. they have a lot of mucus in them.

Aside from this he is still showing an interest in food and water, is social and can still use his litterbox.
If anyone has any recommendations or has dealt with a similar situation I would love to hear from you!

Hows his breathing
Does he have rapid or shallow breathing????
Any weight loss thats really noticeable
Reason im asking is my 12yr old baby had clinically been diagnosed with feline herpes
A yr or so ago
Think he got it from where I went to a shelter looking for him a buddy
And his bloodwork came back normal
He started going down hill...and come to find out when I requested an x-ray of his abdomen cause the vet said it was extremely tender
And so vet was checking for pancreatitis
And it came back NOT pancreatitis but his lungs were deteriorating badly
And think herpes virus caused it
So I ask for xrays to be done of any area that may be bothering him
Or suspected problem area
Never know what gonna find
You looking for one thing and find another
Btw my baby crossed the bridge from the lung issue the 8th of July 2020
A week before his 12th birthday
And good luck to your precious kitty and you

 

[katmaz77]

Hi. I really don't have much of anything to offer, but did want to point out that some of his symptoms (lethargy, loss of mobility, cognitive slowness) could be related to the brain inflammation. So, without knowing the actual cause of the inflammation, your vet is taking the right steps with the Pred and antibiotics. It may be that these treatments will need to be done on a long term basis. Has your vet ever considered an anti-viral treatment for the herpes as well?

Has the vet suggested collecting a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid and having it tested? MRIs and/or CT-scans could also be done to to evaluate the brain inflammation as well.

I am unsure of how the dehydration or the mucus in the stool plays a role with the herpes or the inflammation. Does the vet know what the cause of either is? If the vet doesn't know about his stool, I would definitely call them to tell them about that aspect.

Sorry I can't be of any real help. Hopefully other members will soon see this post and have some ideas to offer.

Thanks so much for your response! We have not had a follow-up xray after treating the brain inflammation, however I was wondering if I should continue to push the issue. My vet has not suggested it. My biggest concern right now is the loss of mobility and I'm wondering if it could have been permanent damage from the inflammation or something ongoing we have missed. Just in March I couldn't keep him off of the kitchen table and now he is struggling to walk!

It might also be worth noting that I am in Quebec, Canada and I am not bilingual, and neither is my vet. Her English is good but lets just say I get very basic explanations. When I asked if his brain was okay she simply say "no" and that its "not like before with the inflammation, but its not good". I usually just get a diagnoses and then have to research myself when I get home and try to connect the dots. Things are even more challenging with Covid, as I am not allowed in the exam room for the check up.

My initial feelings about the stool were that it was just old age and a bit of poor digestion, but perhaps it is something more. They haven't really had any explanation for me about any of his health issues in the past year other than "old age". I have a suspicion that the dehydration came from a little too much sun bathing as we had a big heat wave here.. but no clear answer from the vet.

Our last vet visit (last week) was specifically to talk about his legs and possible pain management. The vet told me she doesn't think he is in much pain, but that he has had a lot of muscle loss and most likely has some arthritis....

Honestly I am just feeling so lost and am not sure how to proceed... I am wondering if he will ever gain back mobility. I will research the cerebrospinal test.

 

[katmaz77]

Hows his breathing
Does he have rapid or shallow breathing????
Any weight loss thats really noticeable
Reason im asking is my 12yr old baby had clinically been diagnosed with feline herpes
A yr or so ago
Think he got it from where I went to a shelter looking for him a buddy
And his bloodwork came back normal
He started going down hill...and come to find out when I requested an x-ray of his abdomen cause the vet said it was extremely tender
And so vet was checking for pancreatitis
And it came back NOT pancreatitis but his lungs were deteriorating badly
And think herpes virus caused it
So I ask for xrays to be done of any area that may be bothering him
Or suspected problem area
Never know what gonna find
You looking for one thing and find another
Btw my baby crossed the bridge from the lung issue the 8th of July 2020
A week before his 12th birthday
And good luck to your precious kitty and you

Hi there and thanks so much for responding. Firstly I am so sorry for your loss of your sweet baby <3 The herpes virus is very challenging, and I too am suspicious of it, and if had any role in the other illness. To answer your questions, his breathing is slightly shallow, however his breaths per minute are still in a normal range. There has definitely been significant weight loss in the last year which snowballed after his tooth removal. He went from being a 10 pound cat to now roughly 7 pounds. Perhaps I should consider having another full body x ray done. We had one done last year but I know things can change quickly in seniors.

 

[CatLover49]

Hi there and thanks so much for responding. Firstly I am so sorry for your loss of your sweet baby <3 The herpes virus is very challenging, and I too am suspicious of it, and if had any role in the other illness. To answer your questions, his breathing is slightly shallow, however his breaths per minute are still in a normal range. There has definitely been significant weight loss in the last year which snowballed after his tooth removal. He went from being a 10 pound cat to now roughly 7 pounds. Perhaps I should consider having another full body x ray done. We had one done last year but I know things can change quickly in seniors.
[/QUOTE
I believe a full body x-ray is a good idea

 

[MissClouseau]

I don't have enough knowledge on any of these particular problems except for herpes but, for some other inflammation related problems I found some help in milk thistle-curcumin supplements. This one to be exact: Silycumin

It's actually for liver and other digestive organs as you'll see, but it also seems to help a bit for my cat's dental problems as well. (I feel confident to say so because we take a one-week break after using for a month, and almost every time her gingivitis gets worse in like 3-4 days in.)

I would ask about supplements like this. And Fortiflora. It's probiotics but also has some ingredients to support the immune system which might help all his poops, herpes, and a bit hydration - I add it to my cat's wet food and add a bit extra water. If you leave this to like evening/night routine, that might increase his water intake a little.

 

[katmaz77]

Thank you so much MissClouseau! I will look into those supplements right away. From this forum I have also learned about Glycoflex, so I have some of that on the way as well.