Himalayan/Maine Coon Mix

Question
QUESTION: Hi,  I just adopted an 11 wk. old kitten from a cat rescuer at an Adopt a Pet
location.  She said that the kitten came from a home where she said the
mother was for sure himalayan and father she believes was maine coon.  She
said the breeder was out of control with number of cats and had too many to
deal with.  She also said that the breeder had not had her cats (parents
including) up to date on their shots.  I had a himalayan cat for 14 years.  She
was a great cat.  However, the last 3 yrs. of her life were not fun for her
because she had constant upper resp. infections that eventually would not go
away and this made her miserable.  We had to eventually put her down
because she was so sick.  So here I am, previously vowed to never get another
cat with a smushed in face because of these resp. problems and now I have
one!  To make matters worse, he is sneezing a little (clear) and weepy eyes
(also clear).  I am nervous that he may have feline herpes virus.  Who knows
maybe my old cat had this too and that is why it never cleared up.  I had her
at the vet all the time.  But I never knew cats could get this.  Any preventative
measure suggestions for future?

ANSWER: I have no idea why breeders continue to breed such faults and what's worse is with this breed the more smushed the better.  This is completely against everything 'breeders' are supposed to be doing which is improving the health of these cats, but anyway!  Hopefully being mixed with a domestic cat will help this little guy.

It is quite likely that he has been exposed to herpes, especially coming from this kind of an environment.  The thing is though that something like 90% of cats have been!  The issue is how the particular cat handles the virus, some have better imune systems than others and can clear it faster others become chronic.

Thankfully there are some things you can do.  First I would put him on 1000mg of L-Lysine daily, this will be permanent.  You can get it at any health food store, it is an amino acid that is proven to stunt the virus and is also an imune booster.  It's completely harmless so if by chance it isn't herpes it won't harm him in any way.  You can actually get a swab done to see if it is hepes, with his eye being weepy now they would take a little sample for a DNA test, this way you will know for sure.  The test is usually about $100.

I would also get him on a natural diet, raw feeding is known for improving immune systems and overall health, which would be extra important for a smushy face to help avoid any URI's alltogether. Another biggie would be to get yourself a hollistic vet, there are many herbs and remedies out there for immune system building that would be helpful in any case but deffenitly in his.

I am going to assume that the rescue group did felv/fiv testing on the cats before adopting them out?  Most would but it is something that you should be sure of.

You mention you had your other cat to the vet all of the time, for your average herpes flare up the cat should be able to handle them on their own.  You should not be constantly putting them on antibiotics, this is just useless unless of course it is severe.  If is is just a bit of sneezing and eye nose discharge just leave him be, you are wasting your money and for the most part antibiotics wouldn't help these symptoms anyhow.  The best thing you can do is learn to nebulize to help them to breathe in severe cases (which I am assuming happens more often with a himi due to thier structure).  Nebulizing is just like your mom used to do with the steamer and some vicks vappo rub when we were kids, just helps to open things up.

Hope some of these suggestions help!

Natoma
Chenza Maine Coons
www.chenza.com



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Natoma,
Thank you very much for your reply.  I have been scouring the internet for
information on how to prevent/treat URIs since I got this cat yesterday.  I am
learning so much.  Hopefully, my kitten doesn't have all of this stuff I am
discovering!  His Feline leukemia test did come back negative. Also, the
adoption agency recommended the L-Lysine.  

I did speak to a breeder today about my kitten.  She breeds himalayans.  I
told her about my previous himi and how I was so nervous to have another
one.  She also assured me that nebulizing is the best treatment for a severe
URI.  She feeds her cats a raw diet.  She recommended for kitten food, Nutro
Natural complete kitten care food.  (What do you think of this food?)  She said
she will give me recipe for her raw diet.  She also said that if the nose and eye
discharge is a lot, the vet as well has she would recommend tetramycin for
the eyes.  (What do you think of this?)  In the mean time I will also look for a
holistic vet.  Thank you very much for your attention.  It is so wonderful that
you provide this service!

Debra

Answer
HIya!

I'm just a volunteer, I do hope that my advise helps the kitties which is why I do it :)

Raw deffenitly is best, Nutro is a half decent dry food but is still loaded with grains (Cats are carnivores so shouldn't eat grains at all!).  There is a food called Evo which is dry but completely grain free, I have no idea how they do it, but they do :)  If you have to go with dry this is what I would recommend but if you are only looking for something to tide you over until you learn how to do raw I would recommend getting yourself some TC instincts powder and just mixing it with ground raw turkey or chicken from the grocery store.  This powder contains everything kitty needs and makes your job super easy.  For more info on raw feeding recipe's go to, www.catnutrition.org or if you want to be able to ask questions you can join the yahoogroup called rawpaws, they are a great bunch of people.

Teramycin is fine but I personally like drops better and highly recommend gentamycin, obviously in the same family of drugs just a different format.  I find drops easier to use and the bonus here is that the antibiotics travel down the nasal passage (since it's a liquid) and help with any secondary infections there as well.  

You've found yourself a good breeder, I would hang onto her name in case you ever decide to get another himi.  A lot of breeders wouldn't have responded to your request since you are not their clients so kudo's to her!

Lastly, I would stop readind.  Normally I recommend people research as much as possible but you allready have the basics and reading more will likely just have you looking for stuff that is probably not happening, I know I've done it!  Just enjoy your new baby, feed him a great diet, stay away from vaccines as much as you can and deal with any issue's as they arrise.  The best advise my mentor ever gave me was loving neglect, as long as a cat is eating and drinking and isn't lethargic then they are doing just fine and don't require a vet visit, this stopped me from running to the vet every five days has saved my bank accounts and has also helped build better imune systems!

Good luck!

Natoma
Chenza Maine Coons,
www.chenza.com