my female cat is 18 yrs old she is still like a kitten my ? is for the last month her nose is constanly runny along with sneezing a lot
my female cat is 18 yrs old she is still like a kitten my question is for the last month her nose is constantly runny along with sneezing a lot
Herpes Viral Conjunctivitis (Infectious in cats)
Herpes virus in cats shows up in the form of ocular changes. Sometimes owners will state that their cat appears be squinting. Often, they will have eye discharge as well. The pink part of the eye that surrounds the eye and is part of the inner eyelid is called the conjunctiva. When the conjunctiva becomes irritated, they can become itchy, dry, red and uncomfortable. The cornea, which is the clear part of the eye that covers the pupil and globe of the eye, can also become involved in the inflammation, becoming cloudy or even ulcerated. Tear production can be goopy and increased, but over time it can become reduced leading to a chronic dry, uncomfortable eye.
Conjunctivitis in cats can be due to many things, including chronic irritation, bacterial infection and other ocular disease. However, in most cats, conjunctivitis is usually of viral origin and most commonly, Herpesvirus (Feline herpesvirus-1) is the cause for this in cats. Herpesvirus is a latent virus, meaning that it may only express itself during times of stress. It grows in the tissues of the body that have contact with the environment, such as the upper respiratory tissues and conjunctiva. The initial phase of infection is usually the most severe in terms of symptoms. This phase does resolve, however, the virus itself does not go away. This virus hides in the trigeminal nerve (a neurologic structure in the head) and during times of stress, the immune system is suppressed and the virus erupts to display clinical signs again. So, in a sense, it appears that this virus comes and goes, even though it is present at all times in the tissue.
Kittens
Herpes infection is extremely common in young kittens, especially those facing other stresses that are taxing the immune system. Kittens that are at a higher risk for infection are cats that are strays, in shelters, competing with other cats for food in poor care environments. Unfortunately, young kittens secrete so much eye discharge with this disease in effort to protect their eyes that this can seal them shut with goopy discharge. This is an emergency because often, this irritates the eye enough and in severe cases, the eye can rupture or develop such a severe infection that the kitten becomes permanently blinded. Topical antibiotics that are safe for the eye must be administered by your vet to treat this, in addition to other clinical signs and symptoms. Herpes infection typically causes respiratory signs such as a runny nose, congestion, sneezing etc. Any upper respiratory signs can result in a loss of appetite and dehydration in a young kitten. Kittens with any upper respiratory signs should be evaluated by a veterinarian to rule out different disease and begin proper treatment. Almost always, these kittens are started on a topical eye medication, oral antibiotics and in extreme situations, hospitalized for critical care.
Adult Cats
Because kittens are at such risk for Herpes, and often inherit the disease from their mothers, it’s not uncommon to have an adult cat that has signs of Herpes that come and go. These individuals will have recurring conjunctivitis in times of stress. Typical signs include squinting slightly in one eye (often will change from eye to eye over several days or weeks), ocular discharge (usually brownish in color), a red eye. You cat may only show one of two signs, not necessarily all of them.
Can we test for Herpes?
How do we know it is Herpes? It is tough to know. Most of the time, Herpes is a diagnosis of rule outs. This means other ocular conditions should be considered and ruled out before we make the assumption that Herpes disease is the culprit. There is a conjunctival swab test that is a PCR DNA test, however, we can see mixed results in cats that have had exposure to the vaccine. So, there is no definitive test for this, but a conjuntival swab may give us a better idea of exposure. Other eye tests are usually performed to rule out something more threatening before treatment of Herpes is considered.
How Can We Treat It?
There are several treatment methods that can be combined in the treatment of Feline Herpes eye infections. Most of these involve topical antibiotics, topical antivirals (though they are expensive and required administration 5-6 times daily), oral immunosuppressants, which may help shorten the course of infection, oral lysine (an amino acid that helps limit replication of Herpes virus). Vaccination is also a treatment that is recommended for all cats in the form of an upper respiratory vaccine. This may help prevent Herpes virus in your cat, however the injectable vaccine is not recommended to treat an infection. Just because your cat has had a vaccine for Herpes does not mean that Herpes will be prevented, but usually the clinical signs are significantly reduced.
Is it contagious?
Yes, cats can get it from other cats, however you cannot get it from your cat.
I was hanging Christmas lights in the front yard this afternoon, listening to the radio, and heard a public service annoucement. They said that pet influenza was present in our area (Denver) and they were suggesting that every dog owner have their their dogs get flu shots. They did say that dog influenza is not the same as people's, but that it was highly contageous among dogs that went to day care or kennels, and that it was not transmissable to people.
Do you think we should get our dogs vaccinnated?
Dear Dr. Spohn
Last year my wife an I got two kittens from a local animal shelter. They've both been tested negative for FIV and FeLV, but have not been tested for FHV1 (feline herpes), which we believe they probably have (since they come from a shelter). On their first months with us (they were 2 and 3 months old each) last year the female cat had two flares of conjunctivitis, while the male had a single one. This year, the female cat also had a very mild flare of conjunctivitis that did not even lasted long.
The problem is the eye of the female cat that had the conjunctivitis keeps tearing a very small amount of "rheum" indefinitely. It's not wet, and it's not on large quantities, but sometimes her eye looks "pale", and the conjunctiva is slightly more red than on the other eye. Occasionally there also some kind of weird artifacts, like it's dirty with something over the cornea (that closing/opening moves away).
After reading around the web, it seems it's probably conjunctivitis. But I don't want to go to a vet to have him/her tell me to use some antibiotic now and have the same problem again in two months. I mean, ok, she will probably have conjunctivitis for the rest of her life, but I don't think it would be good for her to spend this life under antibiotics. Specially for such a mild case of conjunctivitis. If it is conjunctivitis at all
I'm not even sure if I should take her to the vet, because it might not be detectable visually when I make the appointment. For example, sometimes her eye is like this http://imgur.com/AgPR3.jpg , but some other times is normal, like on this http://imgur.com/cnxtN.jpg picture with her brother hugging my internets.
The rheum is generally dark. I've realized that cleaning it often with tissue helps, but still not completely. Once, when using the thumb and index finger with a soft tissue, I've pulled a full fur from her eye. She has very thin fur and I even started to think it could be some pelage stuck in the eye.
She's been with these symptoms for months already, would you have any advice?
Thank you very much.
I talked to the lady about the cats and she gave me a quick run down of their history. They were rescued from a hoarder who had like 60 cats in a trailer. They are brother and sister. They are tabby maine coon mix.
There are some health issues that I want to let you know about so you can give me your honest opinion on what you think I should do.
The foster mom said that they both carry the herpes trait which is common in 80% of cats. Is that true? I never knew that, so they cant or shouldn't be around any other animals for a long period of time....that's fine with me.
One of the cats had pneumonia for a while mixed with some other things so I guess she is always going to have some sort of respiratory problems. She is on a medicine right now that is kind of like a paste and she needs to take it everyday or every couple days, but other than that she is fine.
The foster mom said that it usually acts up in times of stress....which is the issue.
A trip across the country is going to be stressful and its going to be a totally different environment in terms of weather and elevation so I don't know how that will affect the respiratory thing. The other thing she told me was that a lot of people have inquired about the cats, but once they learn of one of the cats "problems" they don't want them.
I know that I can handle giving them medicine and all that, I took care of a friends cat who has diabetes and gave him his insulin shots so that's no problem. I'm just wondering what the cost is going to be in the long run. She may need antibiotics every now and then and I don't know all the cost involved. These cats have been in foster care since late august. She, the foster mom, told me that they only live in one room in the house because of her other cats and not wanting them to get sick and all.
Ugh....I want them, but I don't or maybe can't afford to have them sick as soon as I get to the Albuquerque.
What do I do, I know you cant tell me but give me your opinion. I don't want them to live in one room for the rest of their lives you know?
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Questions Answered By:
Dr. Lauryn Spohn, DVM
