Stubborn herpes infection? Add Lactoferrin in addition to Lysine

[xenathecrazy]

My kitty is on Lysine (1000mg daily) and I'm just wondering if the Lactoferrin is still working for those that started it or is there something you've found even better to control the sneezing and weeping eye. I also give her a supplement called Homeopet for Nose Relief and that has improved the quantity of the sneezing. I'm looking for anything that may be better than what I'm using that is natural. Also how much Lactoferrin do I give her?

 

[Anne]

Popping in to address the concerns voiced by @White Shadow.

@Young Again  has contacted me when he joined the forums and coordinated his participation here with us. I want to clarify that he is not currently an advertiser or sponsor here at TCS. His opinions are welcome here as are the opinions of any other member and he is neither paid by TCS nor paying TCS to voice them here. 

I welcome the participation of industry professionals in the forums, as long as it is transparent and coordinated with myself and the moderators (as is the case here).

I think the ability to communicate with company representatives directly can help us all make informed decisions about the care of our cats. If reps can also contribute as members, drawing on their professional experience, that's not a bad thing either, as long as the two types of contributions are clearly separate (i.e. information on the products is shared only in threads about these products, when asked about by a member).

I hope this clarifies things. As always, if you think you see a problem, flag the post and the moderators will deal with your report. Please do not reprimand other forum members, just flag to report and let us handle things. Also, with any concerns or questions, always feel free to PM me. While we do not allow discussion of site policies in the public forums, I absolutely cherish all feedback sent to me in a private message or email. Thank you in advance!

 

[mybuddyorion]

@XenaTheCrazy I buy Jarrow lactoferrin and it comes in 250 mg tablets.  I bought it on Amazon.  My boy gets half a tab at breakfast and the rest at dinner.  He's still under a year old at that dose.  Not sure if anyone else here gives a higher or lower amount.  He used to be on L-Lysine from NOW but I noticed that with the lactoferrin and the L-Lysine he still kept getting flares more than I kind of thought he should and the sneezing was still very much present and kind of gross.  I decided to take him off the L-Lysine and just keep him on the lactoferrin and he's doing so much better.  No flares *knock on wood* and though he still sneezes occasionally (not daily), it's not gross or gunky and all over my walls and house. lol. 

 

[xenathecrazy]

I use the NOW brand of L-Lysine too. Is there anything as good as the Jarrow but less expensive that could work with the same ingredients?  I could buy it to try it but long term that's pricey using one tablet a day. 

 

[rita m]

I started my JoJo on lactoferrin 2 wks now, but still sneezing alot of snot. He is 7 mo old. I also give him lysine 2 x day. How long did it take to see improvement on lactoferrin??

 

[mybuddyorion]

@XenaTheCrazy   I was recommended the Jarrow formula by other users on this site.  It is a little bit pricey but I figure for me, it's more convenient and something I'd rather save and spend my money on than trips to the vet, which could cause him to flare from stress, and have the vet tell me the same thing she always does and put him on a round or two of antibiotics.   I'm not sure of another brand, maybe another user could jump in here? 

@Rita M My boy was only on L-Lysine for a few months and I wasn't really seeing the improvement I wanted. I know I can't make the virus behave, lol, if only.  So I read in this post about the lactoferrin and purchased that adding it to his food along with the L-Lysine.  I eventually took my boy off the L-Lysine because again, I just wasn't seeing improvements and he didn't seem to want to eat his food with the L-Lysine in it anymore.  I want to say that after just being on the lactoferrin only I saw an improvement in little under a week.  He's been on just the lactoferrin since October and *knock on wood* still hasn't had any flares.  I've noticed his runny eyes will notch up a bit sometimes, but it's really only like for a day, but he hasn't had a full fledged flare since October. 

I think it's just going to be trial and error here.  I'm not a vet in no shape or form but maybe give what I did a try and drop the L-Lysine and see how it goes with just the lactoferrin?    

 

[rita m]

Thanks, I will give it a try!

 

[coolforcats]

How I wish I had known about Lactoferrin. It could have possibly saved my beautiful girl who I had to have PTS last April. Honey was a BSH who was susceptible to conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers. Last January she had another bout which would not heal. None of the antibiotic eye ointment worked. By February it had gone into both eyes. The vet referred her to the veterinary hospital in Newmarket who found that the ulcers had attached to the corneas on both eyes. This would have meant an operation with no guarantee of success. Although she had tested negative on two occasions she was diagnosed FHV which they told me would most likely return even after virus treatment. I had already tried L Lysine which had no effect. Poor little girl was in so much pain and because she was very sensitive to the anti inflammatory we had no option but to have her put out of our misery. I have never recovered from the heartbreak of having her go through this and would not wish it on any animal. Good luck to any of you who have a cat with FHV. B

 

[tnrmakessense]

Thank you for your reply. And thank you to TCS for their information on your membership. I'd be interested in any independent research regarding nucleotides and their treatment of cat illnesses. I've just begun looking through PubMed but perhaps you could steer me more directly to those particular studies. 

 

[tnrmakessense]

I was a bit rusty using PubMed, but I figured out how to find studies for "non human animals" and found this study from New Zealand which points to nucleotide supplementation , arginine, and salmon oil as a help to cats immune response:

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23385006

I also found mention of arabinogalactins as possible immune support for cats.

Since I feed my cats a high protein diet, I will try adding each of these in supplement form. 

 

[young again]

May I ask what particular problem you are specifically trying to supplement for? Are you only trying to strengthen the immune system if so from what or against what disease?

 

[tnrmakessense]

I suspect chronic herpes in a male cat I rescued as a tiny abandoned feral kitten, so I am hoping to help boost his immune system. As a kitten he had goopy eyes and a runny congested nose. He's now clear except for daily sneezes that bring up boogers. The most noticeable improvement came when I gave him real chicken rather than canned or dry food. I've continued to feed all my guys at least one real meat or fish meal a day.

 

[silverpersian]

Here's one more plug for Polyprenyl immunostimulant. I have no connections to the company. I'm just a consumer with an FHV kitty who has not had an outbreak in two years. I have him on 250 mg of lysine and 125 of lactoferrin. He had regular outbreaks before the Polyprenyl and it was very difficult to watch him get sick over and over again.

It cost around $130 (it's been a while, so I don't remember the exact number). That seemed expensive, until I thought about it more carefully and realized that it would pay for itself if it prevented just two outbreaks. And that's just considering the financial cost, not the time and effort and stress involved for everyone, especially our cat.

I think the virus is in deep hibernation. We rescued a starving and unhealthy kitten and she didn't contract it from our FHV cat, hence my guess.

 

[tnrmakessense]

Thanks for the recommendation. I have never heard of Polyprenyl. Great to hear that it's worked well for you. I'm off to do more research on it. 

 

[carolinafran]

Has anyone tried Bovine Lactoferrin by itself? No Lysine. If so, with what results?

 

[red top rescue]

Yes, I use the bovine lactoferrin by itself and it works very well to control the weepy eye that my one female has since having serous URI as a kitten.  (Her mother was pulled from Animal Control with 6 nursing kittens, and soon afterwards they all came down with a very nasty upper respiratory virus.  We managed to save all of them, but the one kitten (almost 4 years old now) still has one eye that runs if she doesn't get her lactoferrin.  I'm about to use it on another rescue, an older female with a chronically runny eye, and see if it works as well on her.

 

[betsygee]

Has anyone tried Bovine Lactoferrin by itself? No Lysine. If so, with what results?

I did that, too, with good results.

 

[carolinafran]

Thank you for your reply.

 

[carolinafran]

Thx

 

[juniemarie]

I would like to hear from people who have had their cats on this lactoferrin product for a while…..long enough to determine if it helps or not.  Also is this just for cats with herpes, FIV or both?

I have tried several things that really don't seem to be helping or help for a short period of time and then stop.  

My cat has chronic rhinitis and I live in fear of him not being able to smell his food which will cause him to stop eating.