tear glands/immunity/pumpkin

Question
We got our dear little person, Sophia, at the pound.  From the time we got her, 5 years ago, she has had a chronically runny eye.  We have been told that early in her life she probably had respiratory issues that resulted in scar tissue .  The scar tissue keeps the liquid in her eye from going down through her sinuses correctly ( or something like that).

At any rate, because she has this problem almost every day, I have been  feeding her a tsp of organic pureed pumpkin .  I feed it to her for her immune system, as well as for her digestive tract.  I know that people can get too much beta carotene or vitamin A.  

Does feeding her the pumpkin have any drawbacks in terms of too much vit A/ beta carotene?

Also, do you think this is enough for her immune system?  Would you also recommend plain yogurt ( a T. once daily)?  Thank you very much

Answer
Hi Susan,

Giving a lot of vitamin A to support the immune system becomes problematic BECAUSE of the toxicity issues (cats are unable to utilize beta carotene for the conversion of vitamin A, so it does not contribute to the problem, nor does it help for immune boosting purposes). Adult cats need around 750IU of Vitamin A a day to support the immune system (for a ten pound cat). Most commercial cat foods provide this amount if fed according to the label. You won't want to give your cat too much in addition to this. The amount found in a teaspoon of pumpkin is fine. While a teaspoon of pumpkin is great for her digestion, I would probably suggest something else for immune support.

Lysine is an amino acid that is necessary to build antibodies. It's a great immune booster that doesn't pose the toxicity threat that vitamins can. An adult cat would get 1000mg daily, preferably separated into two doses. There are lysine supplements made just for cats, such as Viralys or Enisyl products, or you can use tablets for people. The tablets are large, so they should be crushed and mixed into food. Lysine can be especially good for herpes sufferers, like I suspect Sophia is, because it actually "starves" the body of another amino acid that is required to let the herpes virus replicate.

Regarding the yogurt, I think this would be fine. It will address her digestive problems in a different way than the pumpkin. The pumpkin will add fiber, while the yogurt will add beneficial bacteria. Since fiber tends to pull things through the intestines, I would recommend giving the yogurt at least two hours before or after the pumpkin.

Good luck!
Jessica