My cat...

Question
Hi Pati,

My cat is 13 years old and in the last year after a very stressful visit from the vet (traveling vet) in her van...my cat developed a severe head cold.  We took him to another specialty vet who said his lung and chest were clear and there is nothing you can do about it because it's viral (maybe that herpes virus).  Devon (my cat) has such a stuffed nose that crackling sounds are coming from his head and his breathing from the nose is getting worse.  He has eye discharge too.  We steam him in the bathroom sometimes.  He tried antibiotics and we were giving him Lysine for a little while (powder in yogurt) and nothing is working.  I feel so helpless...:(
If you have a suggestions please let me know...

Thanks,

Lauren

Answer
Hi Lauren,

It sounds very much like the feline herpes virus that is so prevalent.  Most cats actually have it but only a few present with symptoms, often after a stressful situation such as a move or new baby in the house.  You sound like you have things pretty well in hand as far as the steaming and the L-lysine (is the yogurt you're using regular yogurt?  You should use lactose free or goat's milk yogurt because it has no lactose and cats are lactose intolerant).  I also use plain saline nasal spray directly up the nose (I use a 1cc syringe, you could use an eye dropper).  If nothing else it will make him sneeze and the more he sneezes the better.  One of my herpes cats has tearing from one eye because the tear duct was blocked when she was having a particularly bad episode.  I have found that they go through times when everything is (relatively) fine and then they'll get "snotty" for a little while and sneeze out a bunch of stuff.
Try the nasal spray to see if you can get some stuff out of his nose and keep giving him the L-lysine.  Other than that you may have to accept that he's going to be symptomatic and as long as its not too bad, if he doesn't appear to be suffering from it, that may be the best you can do.