[Becca D]

Hi all,

Well Monty is feeling much better, but still not 100%. He had another trip to the vet two days ago and the vet has prescribed some VibraVet paste to treat cat flu. However, what the vet and I cannot work out, is where he could have possiblty contracted the flu from. He said it is only passed by direct contact with a cat who has the flu, but our cats don't go anywhere near other cats. They are 90% indoor cats and we occasionaly let them out into our fully enclosed backyard. Our other moggy - Beau, has had an awful cough for 2 days now, at first we thought it may be just a furball, but when we realised it was getting more frequent and sounding a lot worse, we thought he might need a trip to the vet also. So he went today and the vet has assumed that it is probably cat flu also -from Monty, so now both cats are on the VibraVet paste.
I'm just wondering if anyone has ever heard from cat flu laying dormant in the system for quite some time - we only got Monty about a month ago from a shelter (he was taken away from his owner as the owner had too many cats in very unsanitary conditions), so we're wondering if it's possible that he had caught the flu way back then and is only getting sick now?
The vet also mentioned that if btoh cats are not better in a few days he will test them for chlamydia, that would explain most of both their symptoms, but i can't find anything that says that chlamydia can affect liver enzymes (Monty's are high at the moment).
I'm a little concerned that the vet and I might be missing something...
Any advice would be most appreciated!

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[vengeancethecat]

I think it can lie dormant because when I got my latest foster failure Bucky Iris she was initially fine and kept indoors with my boys. But then after about a month she came down with the cat flu and gave it to 4 out of 5 of my boys!! She hadn't had any prior symptoms and hadn't come into contact with any other cats apart from my boys.

I don't know if the cat flu is like human flu - perhaps it is possible to catch the cat flu from germs? Like if you patted a cat that had flu germs and then patted your own cat, perhaps cats can get it - I'm not sure as I just thought this up myself.

[Heather Sharada]

I am no vet....so can't answer in a scientific way but some strains of what is called cat flu - it is a name given loosely to non specific URI's by a lot of vets...can be hard to erradicate.

It is possible that the cat from the shelter had been treated with Vibravet and not quite long enough to knock it off but just to suppress it and has had it flare up again. Some years ago Deb had a problem which was never able to totally identify and it was hard to knock off and was treated eventually for 4 weeks with Vibravet and later given a course of Zithromax - one dose weekly for 3 weeks before it was finally knocked on the head for ever. I think we also gave the cats L Lysine daily in their food.

I can not advise you but perhaps mention to your vet the Zithromax- an article here http://www.users.big...d/zithromax.htm - it is not the ab of first choice by vets but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it works well.

Anyway you do need to be advised by your vet whatever you decide to do and it sounds like he is on the case.

[Monsterkidd]

I'm not saying that the VET is wrong, but this is just my experience!
It's not always contacted by direct contact with another cat. I work in a cat shelter, and if we don't sterilize our hands properly after handling a cat, it can be transferred to another cat.

I hope they feel better soon!

[Cuddleton]

Feline Herpes Virus is often referred to as cat flu. You cats could have contracted it from their mother and had it lay dormant till now. It is something you can vaccinate against but it isnt 100% coverage and if they get it before they are vaccinated it can be there and you never know. It acts the same way as cold sores in that you get the virus, it stays way down in the nerves and then comes up during times of stress or other triggers. People get yucky sores, cats get the flu.