L-Lysine For Feline Herpes Flare-ups
So you are reeling from your cat’s recent feline herpes diagnosis. This is also known as feline rhinovirus which also sounds scary, because no one wants their cat to be related to a rhino. You thought it was just a stuffy nose, a kitty cold! Well, dear friend, you can breathe again, your cat is not a rhino or a floozy either – herpes isn’t the same for cats as it is for humans. Think of it like a chronic cold just quietly waiting for stress, injury or illness to cause a flare-up. This results in stuffy noses, drippy eyes, and no appetite – poor kitty!
Everybody’s Got It
Not only is feline herpes basically a chronic cold, a huge percentage of cats have it, because it’s ridiculously contagious. Shelters, boarding facilities and vet offices abound with cats carrying it. Since it’s got variable symptoms, and it’s not an infection, antibiotics aren’t likely to have any effect. It just needs to run its course, but meanwhile your kitty can’t smell anything and is therefore miserable and not eating. Amino acid L-lysine to the rescue! For many, many eons, smart people have been using it on shelter cats, foster cats, personal cats and even feral colonies. Vets, rescues and pet sitters have spread the word to their clients that there’s a way to end the suffering. It’s easy to hide in food, inexpensive, harmless, tasteless, readily available at the health food store, grocery store, pharmacy, online shops, and of course, Amazon. You can buy it in caplets, pills, and powder form.
Follow the Money
Then corporate veterinary medicine wanted in on the action. They tried to tell us not to use it and repeatedly continued to try and scare us away from our favorite remedy. They convinced vets to release articles telling us we should discontinue use IMMEDIATELY, as if something horrible was going to happen to our cats RIGHT NOW if we didn’t let them suffer. Soon it became evident that they were trying to re-invent the wheel with a new $$$$ formula, now they’re selling us this, conveniently located at your vet clinic and with a giant price tag to match. This product contains the amino acid l-lysine which is not to be confused with the amino acid l-lysine that absolutely, positively does not work for feline herpes respiratory symptoms. Vetoquinol Enisyl-F— super-hidey, Vetoquinol. We won’t recognize it after you spell it backwards: ENISYL —- Is round two going to be Pig Latin?
Buy L-Lysine Without Being Independently Wealthy
So what to do now that your vet has diagnosed feline herpes? Go to your local health food store. Find the supplement aisle. Purchase the NOW brand of L-lysine in powder form. Your vet and Merck Veterinary Manual will tell you that you can dose your cats 250-500mg a day for daily control and increase during more debilitating flare-ups. Since it’s an amino acid, you’re not likely to overdose your cat with it. Simply mix it right into a little wet food or sprinkle it on dry food and it’ll go straight to work. Google is your friend, you can find all kinds of information out there.. just follow the money. You can spend $14 on a pound of L-lysine powder that will last you a year or you can spend $27 on a pump bottle that might last a month at 2 pumps per dose. I recommend you buy the smaller size unless you’re taking care of a feral colony to prevent efficacy problems, as 1/8 tsp twice a day won’t make a dent in a giant tub!
