Expert: Jessica - 11/6/2010

Question
Hi Jessica,
First of all I want to thank you Jessica for all your knowledgeable advices and
for your love to this beautiful creatures. If it weren't for you my 16 year old
cat, Lorenzo diagnosed with hyperthyroid problem would be dead now.
You recommended to give him epaquitin and pet-tinic and it work so well for
Lorenzo. At that time I was very disappointed of my vet because he only came
to tell me that it would be Ok for Lorenzo to be on this supplements ONLY
when I mentioned it to him after your advice. At that time lorenzo had lost a
lot of weight after the i1-31 procedure. After the two first days on epaquitin
and pet-tinic Lorenzo recovered his appetite and gained all his weight back
within a month or so!! :)
I also want to inform you that I followed your advice of contacting and joining  
the TNR group in my city. Since then, I have been able to TNR Casper the
white feral cat with ear mites problem that I consulted you about  and other 9
cats and kittens that are part of the same colony that I didn't know it existed
until the day  I saw casper near to a ditch in my neighborhood    :) Now I feed
them all every day ( All of them fixed!! yes! :)  Thanks a million Jessica
My new question today is:
would you recommend to give DMG to  3 week old kittens that are taking
antibiotics for upper respiratory infection?
we rescued two kittens from a parking lot they are extremely thin. we tuck
them to a vet, she prescribed antibiotic and benadryl for 14 days.  we are on
the first 7 days and they are still very congested and and not eating well, they
eyes are red inside and full of tha gooey yellow secretion
I bought DMG few months ago when you recommended it to boost the
immune system of Casper the white feral. If not, what else can we do for this
two that look so fragile.
Your advice will be very appreciated.
God Bless you always.
Dulce

Answer
Hi Dulce,

I'm so glad everything is working well and that you were able to trap and neuter your colony! That's wonderful news!

For the 3-week-old kittens, I don't think I would give them DMG just yet. Maybe in another two weeks (or as soon as they start eating solid food).  But I would not want to overload their sensitive digestive systems right now.  

What I think would be more important to give them at this point would be lysine.  I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this to you for any of the other kitties.  This is an amino acid that is essential to help build antibodies that the kittens need to fight whichever germ is attacking them now.  However, there is another benefit.  The most likely germ that the kittens are infected with is the feline herpes virus.  This is responsible for most upper respiratory infections in kittens.  Lysine prevents the herpes virus from replicating, so it shortens the duration of the symptoms and lessens the severity.

The lysine supplement that I like to use is Viralys gel.  This is made especially for cats.  There are other products such as Enisyl-F, as well.  You can obtain these from your vet or online.  A 3-week-old kitten would probably do well to have .3 cc of the Viralys gel twice a day.  There is no worry of overdose - anything the kitten doesn't use is excreted in the urine.  If you are unable to get either of these products, you can also use lysine from your local pharmacy.  I would give 1/8 of a 1000 mg tablet to each kitten twice daily.  However, the tablet should be ground up into fine powder and mixed into their antibiotic or formula.

You should begin seeing improvements from the lysine in several days.  Most cats are infected with herpes, and they carry it for life.  It can emerge as an upper respiratory infection from time to time.  You may need to give them lysine during these times to help with symptoms, or if the kittens happen to have chronic herpes symptoms, they should receive lysine every day for life.

Good luck!

Jessica