Expert: Jessica - 8/27/2009

Question
My father has recently befriended a stay/feral cat.  The cat is almost a year old.  He is a male.  The cat seems healthly other than that he is sneezing like he has a cold.  He does sneeze a yellow discharge out of his nose.  Is there any home remedies to cure this or would it have to "run its course"?  My dad just ordered from a pet cataloge a heating pad for cats for the winter to go into the house that he built in his barn for him, flea medicine, ear mite medicine, and a wormer for the cat.  Because of ordering these, he cant afford to take him to the vet. Up until 5 days ago we couldnt pet it--now he is our new friend and loves attention.

Answer
Hi Tricia.  If this is strictly a viral illness, it will have to runs its course, but if there is a bacterial component, then antibiotics will be needed to clear up the infection.  Unfortunately, only a vet can provide those safely.  Some vets will give a nice discount on initial visits for cats who are taken in as strays or rescues, so your dad may want to call around and see if any such offers are available.

If there's absolutely no possibility that your father can get the cat to the vet and the cat is still eating and drinking normally, you may want to try supplementing the cat with lysine.  This is an amino acid that will naturally prevent the replication of the feline herpes virus – the most common underlying cause of thick nasal discharge in cats.  The effective dosage for an adult cat is 500mg a day.  Your dad could either buy lysine that’s especially formulated for cats (search the internet for Viralys or Enisyl-F, which come in treats, gel, paste or powder), or he could buy lysine that comes in pill form for humans from any pharmacy.  Most pills for humans come in 1000mg.  The daily dose would be half of this, although there is no worry of overdosing, since excess lysine will just be excreted in the urine.  But even half this pill is too monstrous to give directly, and you will need to grind it up and mix it into some tasty canned food.  A few cats won’t be fooled into eating it this way.

If the illness is strictly due to herpes, you should begin to see an improvement in his symptoms with the lysine treatment in 4 or 5 days.  Treatment should continue until the symptoms have been gone for at least a couple of weeks.  If you discontinue the treatment and symptoms return, he may be a kitty who needs to be on lysine permanently.  Cats who become infected with feline herpes become permanent carriers of the virus.   Most cats only have periodic outbreaks of symptoms, during which the use of lysine is helpful.  However, some cats struggle with herpes symptoms on a constant basis and require lysine daily to help control them.