Just wanted ro post an FYI for anyone that might not be up on this. FHV-1 is the feline herpes virus that often causes gunky or goopy eyes in cats and kittens. Left untreated it can cause conjunctivitis, keratitis, corneal ulceration, cataracts, and/or blindness and is usually combined with URI symptoms(sneezing, coughing, runny nose, general lethargy). An otherwise healthy cat or kitten has a much better reaction to FHV-1 than unhealthy or very young cats/kittens.

Before anyone freaks out FHV-1 is very common and it is said most cats have it/have had it. Once a cat is infected, it can easily be treated if caught, but there is no cure and often cats will have recurring episodes of one or both eyes being goopy/runny throughout their lives. Some cats once a year or two, others once a month depending on many factors.

I have recently been dealing with a LOT of FHV-1 infections in the feral cat population in my area. I have been livetrapping and taming the feral kittens to find them homes and spaying the mommas. Almost all of the kittens I have pulled out of dumpsters or from underneath porches/houses etc. have shown varying degrees of FHV-1 symptoms.

Before anyone jumps on me, I am sorry but I cannot afford to take 20-30 kittens and cats into a vet to get them checked and pay for prescriptions! I do recommend that you take in your own pets to a veterinarian and have them diagnosed to ensure proper treatment. I have dealt with FHV-1 for as long as I can remember because I'm a sucker and I cannot say no to someone with a sick baby kitten All of my treatment is based on recommendations from veterinarians and personal success.

That said, my treatment is as follows: all cats recieve L-Lysine crushed up and put into a little bit of canned food. Amount depends on size and age of the cat and how bad the infection is. The smaller the cat the less is required, so a baby kitten 4-8 weeks old with a moderate infection will get about 250-300 mg, 8+ weeks old to adult, of normal size(not tiny) and moderate infection will get 500 mg. Aggressive treatment would be 500 mg for smaller baby kittens if they have a particularly bad infection, and 750 mg for an older kittens in bad shape. I only give L-Lysine when a flare up or infection is present. I do not give L-Lysine unless the cat is infected or has a flare up but some give a small dose (100 mg or less) every day to cats that are known to have FHV-1.

Some of the cats will also get Terramycin applied. Terramycin is a broad spectrum antibiotic, a topical opthalmic ointment. The frequency and length of application depends on the degree of infection and how it responds. I rarely apply Terramycin for more than 10 days.

I personally have never seen an adult with a bad infection that was *caused* by FHV-1(doesn't mean it doesn't happen), but I have seen lacerations/eye irritation that opened the door for an FHV-1 flare up. In an adult cat that suddenly has nasty eyes I definitely recommend a trip to the vet, most especially if the cat has never shown symptoms of FHV-1 before. Flare-ups in adult cats are often due to immune system compromise (stress, other illness, etc) and respond VERY well to treatment with L-Lysine.

To continue my story.. one little tiny baby kitten was given to me by my boss, whose grandson fished it out from underneath her house. She had a very very bad infection.

This little one, guessed at around 4 weeks, had been abandoned by momma a few days before and was completely blind in both eyes from the inflamation and gunk and one eye was horrible, ulcerated and nasty. She could hardly breath because her nose was so stuffed with goo and she wouldn't move or make a sound other than occassionally trying to hiss when she sensed a hand near her.

I treated her aggressively with Terramycin and L-Lysine, she was kept in a quiet room by herself in her own crate (my house might as well be a cat shelter right now) gave her only EVO canned food mixed with water and after three touchy weeks she has gone from one very inflamed eye and one badly ulcerated/infected eye to completely clear. She was given Terramycin for the first 10 days and since has only been given L-Lysine. She is frisky, happy, healthy, and the only one I'm not going to try finding a home for.

I just wanted to praise the use of L-Lysine for treating FHV-1 infections and flare ups. I have used it for a while but I really thought this baby was either going to die or at best be blind in one eye. The Terramycin did a good job of mostly clearing up her better eye and partially clearing up her bad eye, but the L-Lysine treatment did the most good.

If you want to know what she looked like google: feline corneal ulceration. I will not post pictures or links because it is not a pretty picture and to be is actually quite disturbing to see when you have in your mind that this was a 4 week old kitten suffering so badly.

Ok after all that I will say that I am not a veterinarian and I recommend a visit to your vet if your cat shows signs or symptoms or FHV-1 infection or other eye problems if it never has before. If you have already been through FHV-1 treatment with your vet and your cat has a flare up I still recommend talking to your vet about it first but L-Lysine can be a big help in treating FHV-1.

Please read: Feline Conjunctivitis and Keratitis:
http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/Medicine/Feline-keratitis-and-conjunctivitis-Proceedings/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/604608

Feline Opthalmology:
http://www.vin.com/vindbpub/searchpb/proceedings/pr05000/pr00523.htm

Terramycin information:
http://www.1800petmeds.com/Terramycin-prod10190.html (also available at certain farm/ranch/feed stores, usually in with the vaccines)

FHV-1 eye infection information:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2124&aid=2733

http://www.eyecareforanimals.com/PDF/7445OcularVol7issue4.pdf

My oldest cat has FHV, he got dx'd after I adopted him - I have seen a bad FHV flare-up b/c they took awhile to test for it and I didn't know better.

L-Lysine is GREAT for treating FHV. I have used it with great success with Mitch. It also is used for the treatment of human cold sores/canker sores/herpes if I'm not mistaken.

Jennifer, yes L-Lysine is affective at treating the outbreak symptoms different types of herpes in humans. I don't get them but a friend of mine and my mom get cold sores pretty badly at times and L-Lysine is a godsend for them.

I don't know why I'm seeing so much FHV-1 lately but then again I don't normally trap 25 cats in 2 weeks! But I live in the country and general consensus of the neighborhood was that if they didn't start disappearing they were going to be shot. As horrible as it is one woman in my area actually sets her dogs on the cats and kittens when she finds them on her property.

People disgust me sometimes I fully understand issues with feral cats, my window motor crapped out so I couldn't roll up my window and one of the toms peed and pooped all over the inside of my car. They tear up the trash, fight, yowl, screech, scratch on tires, have scratched the paint on my car and are generally annoying in these numbers. But I'm all for trapping and rehoming the ones I can, and spaying and releasing the ones I can't tame.

I ran a TNR program for a rescue where we trapped the kittens and adopted out, or any cats we trapped that turned out to be strays.

People can be horrible. It's funny, I was saying something about this yesterday on FB....everyone was always 'you're helping the cats! YAY!' and I was, but in my mind, I was humanely eradicating the population. And actually, TNR has been shown to be more effective than trap/kill programs b/c the ecosystem remains 'filled' and the populations become closed systems vs. new animals moving in.

One other note about FHV - my elderly cat was on the street for years, until he was hit by a car, is now a tripod - but when I adopted him he only had his 4 canines, no other teeth. When I got them cleaned (they were all pulled, along with a broken-off tooth discovered w/an infection), his issues reduced dramatically. Dental health is related to immune health.

Recognizing that dental care for your colony isn't possible, but in case anyone is reading and in reference to their pet cats.

I would wonder if your colony has anything else other than FHV going on weakening their immune systems - I wouldn't expect to see too much FIV colony wide as it doesn't transmit as easily as FeLV, but perhaps FeLV as well?

Possibly, I can't afford to have them tested but the only symptoms I am seeing are general eye inflamation(conjunctivitis/keratitis) and minor URI symptoms that clear up with treatment of Terramycin and L-Lysine. Not all of them have had it, just two litters (15 kittens) and a few random others, totalling 18, all kittens under 3 months, most under 8 weeks.

The babies I'm finding are thanks to starving mommas abandoning babies or mommas getting nabbed by the coyotes or shot. It's pretty dry around here and we are seeing critters coming down the mountain a lot earlier than normal looking for food and water sources.

The kittens I foundd that are ill/have inflamation are not in good health to begin with, and it could have begun with one infected momma giving birth to babies that developed symptoms from poor health and immune compromise that infected the other litter nearby(one under the porch one under the shed)

The adults and older kittens are fine, and who knows with the kittens found within city limits.

Oh, I wasn't saying you should test for FeLV, just musing. I know it's a hard line to walk. We had a colony with huge FeLV problems but it was also a huge colony, so we had to make hard and controversial decisions. Sucks.

If they're all babies the FHV could just be hitting them, or FeLV, I doubt FIV again though they could have antibodies, though again, just musing outloud.

Sounds to me like you're doing an excellent job with limited resources. Have you been able to access any funding or discounts to help?

I wish! No I pay for all of this out of pocket and in the mean time am making my landlord unhappy. I got notified yesterday that they all have to go so I'm scrambling to find homes for the tame ones. I'd release after spaying but they *will* be shot or poisoned if I do so.

I don't feel I'm doing an excellent job I have to feed most of them crap kibble and there are too many in each crate (3 per size 300) but I have a small house and virtually no extra money for good food and more crates.

I know a few shelters will take the tamest ones, and most of these little buggers are adorable. I'm keeping 3 of them with the excuse of having very friendly rodent control, one of them is the baby that was very sick because I'm very attached to her, another is the oldest of the group and one adult female.

Hmmm....I have to go do some stuff now, but if I don't send you a PM tomorrow remind me and I will pull some possible links for funding/help.