# Viralys for Nursing Mum and 2 week kittens?



## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

When we took Jasmine in 2 weeks ago she had a URI. She gave birth that night and we got her to the vet a few days later. He gave her a shot of Convenia and it seemed to help a bit but her eyes have still been gunky and her breathing has been noisy, with a lot of gulping. Now both kittens have a gunky eye. The one baby's eye has been stuck shut so have been washing it with a warm wet cloth and applying terramycin ointment. I phoned the vet and the receptionist said that as long as they were still eating just to keep an eye on them. They are still eating well and moving around a lot but have started sneezing a bit.
I keep a jar of Viralys on hand for the ferals when they start sneezing and am wondering if it is safe to give to the Mama kitty and hopefully the kittens will get some through her milk. I've googled but can't find anything about kittens and viraly. The kittens will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Does anyone know or have experience with this?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mikayla said:


> I keep a jar of Viralys on hand for the ferals when they start sneezing and am wondering if it is safe to give to the Mama kitty and hopefully the kittens will get some through her milk.


Viralys is just an L-lysine supplement (I suspect you could buy L-lysine a lot cheaper at your local drug store), so my guess is it would be perfectly safe to give to Mama. It's always a good idea to run such things past your vet first, though, so give the clinic another call tomorrow and ask ... just to be on the safe side. In the meantime, you can help drain their sinuses by putting Mama and babies in a large carrier, then putting the carrier in a steamy bathroom for 15 mins or so twice a day.

Laurie


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## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

Thanks Laurie. I did know it was L-lysine but am thinking this may help as it seems to help with my outdoor ferals and she was living amongst them before we got her in. I know I sound like I've never owned a cat before but after reading several posts lately about kittens failing so quickly, I'm really worried about these little guys and Jasmine too. She's so little and doesn't seem to be healthy at all.
I'll definitely be checking with vet tomorrow, and will try the steam tonight.

Lori


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I think L-lysine is a good idea, since it should be helpful if Mama and kits have herpes. I found two young kittens last summer when they were only about 5 weeks old. They both had infected eyes that were all gunked up with matter. Fortunately, they were able to eat on their own without having to be bottle fed, so I sprinkled a little L-lysine into their food every day for a while. Their eyes cleared up quickly. Maybe that was a coincidence, but the L-lysine sure didn't hurt.

It was so kind of you to take in Jasmine. Sounds like her body's under an awful lot of strain right now with the illness and a litter of nursing kits. Just feed her as much high quality kitten food as she will eat to help keep up her strength. If she can't keep up nutritionally with the demands on her body, you may need to do some supplemental bottle feeding of the kits to take some of the strain off of her.

Laurie


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## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

Thanks Laurie. I phoned the vet today and started Jasmine on the viralys. I also picked up some KMR and a couple of little bottles just in case. She lets me handle the kittens but putting terramycin in her eyes is a no go. They look so sore, poor baby She has started to let me pet her and is loving it. I love that look in their eyes when they realize that your hands won't hurt them. I'm feeding her canned wellness about 6 times a day. She was eating dried food on the porch with one meal of wet a day along with the other outdoor cats but the vet discovered her teeth are in really bad shape so she is eating only wet now. When the kittens are old enough she'll be getting all of her teeth extracted as well as being spayed. I'm hoping to build her health up as much as I can before then. I alwways keep FortiFlora on hand and may try some of that on her food too.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mikayla said:


> I love that look in their eyes when they realize that your hands won't hurt them.


I know that look. Two of my boys were total ferals when they showed up, and it took months to convince them that I wasn't the enemy. I still remember the first time Mew walked over my lap to try to steal my dinner and the first time Phantom gave me a tentative kiss. Those displays of budding trust are priceless and unforgettable.



> I'm feeding her canned wellness about 6 times a day.


That's a great food for her, but I'd feed it to her free choice, as much as she wants, whenever she wants. She needs all the calories and nutrition that she can take in while she's lactating.



> When the kittens are old enough she'll be getting all of her teeth extracted as well as being spayed. I'm hoping to build her health up as much as I can before then.


It's extremely difficult ... or impossible ... to build up a lactating queen. Usually it's more a matter of trying to prevent them from losing too much ground. The physical demands of a nursing litter are just too great.

I would certainly hope that the vet can save as many of her teeth as possible when she's ready for her dental procedure.



> I alwways keep FortiFlora on hand and may try some of that on her food too.


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It's probably not necessary unless she's having a problem with loose stools. She may greatly benefit, however, from a good vitamin/mineral supplement mixed into her canned food meal once a day, every day.

Laurie


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## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

Thank you.
Will be on a search for a good supplement for Jasmine. Any suggestions? We're in Canada but will order online if necessary.
I know what you mean about ferals. My Mikayla took almost a year and a half before she let me pet her and the first time she did I cried. She is now rolling around on my keyboard wanting her belly rubbed. She still takes baby steps in her socialization but I am so proud of her.

Jasmine seems to be back in heat. She was very restless, pacing and wanting out of her room today. When I was just up there she has started the rolling around and when one of the other cats came near the screen door on her room she started lifting her bottom up in the air and treading with her back feet. I'm sure the caterwauling will soon begin. This will certainly make the next few weeks interesting. I didn't know they could go back in heat so soon.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mikayla said:


> Will be on a search for a good supplement for Jasmine. Any suggestions? We're in Canada but will order online if necessary.


I expect any feline vitamin supplement you can find at your vet's or a pet store would be fine. I personally like The Missing Link - a granular supplement - though I've never used the feline formula. I've only given the canine formula to my dogs. If you can't get your hands on a decent supplement, Jasmine would probably benefit significantly by getting some of that KMR you bought for the kits.



> I know what you mean about ferals. My Mikayla took almost a year and a half before she let me pet her and the first time she did I cried. She is now rolling around on my keyboard wanting her belly rubbed. She still takes baby steps in her socialization but I am so proud of her.


Yep, that "inner feral" is always there no matter how comfortable they become in their domestic surroundings. Phantom still won't allow me to approach him, but as long as it's his idea, he'll smear himself all over me, demanding attention and drooling up a pool of delight.



> Jasmine seems to be back in heat.


Certainly sounds like it. It's amazing how quickly they can come into heat again AND get pregnant again after giving birth. Be careful. She'll stop at nothing to escape and go find a mate. She'll shred your window screens and escape that way if she has access to them. I sure don't envy you living with an in-heat queen until she weans those babies. What a pain.

Laurie


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## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

My pet food store carries Wysong Addlife so will pick that up on Tuesday, the next day they're open. Thanks for the reminder about KMR for the Mama kitty as well as the kits. I gave that to Mikayla when she was pregnant and nursing. I didn't know about this forum then but read somewhere that it was good for the queens. I had forgotten all about that.

Yeah I'm not thrilled about her going into heat, mainly because it will add a lot more stress to her and her health but went through 4.5 weeks straight of it with Mikayla before we could finally get her spayed. She had an ovarian cyst which kept her from going out of heat, poor thing. She and I were both pretty stressed by the end.

Am hoping to get Jasmine spayed August 3rd as my oldest daughter is getting married in our back yard on July 31st and I have some major surgery on August 9th necessitating a 4 day hospital stay and some recovery after. That way I'll have almost a week to take care of her. There really is no rest for the wicked. I really hope she's not in heat the wedding weekend as I'm not sure what a yowling cat will add to the ceremony! 

Thank you again Laurie.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mikayla said:


> Am hoping to get Jasmine spayed August 3rd as my oldest daughter is getting married in our back yard on July 31st and I have some major surgery on August 9th necessitating a 4 day hospital stay and some recovery after. That way I'll have almost a week to take care of her. There really is no rest for the wicked. I really hope she's not in heat the wedding weekend as I'm not sure what a yowling cat will add to the ceremony!


Maybe you can teach Jasmine to caterwaul the Wedding March by then. LOL!

I'm sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery. You sure have your plate full. I wish you a full, smooth, and speedy recovery.

Laurie


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## Mikayla (Aug 14, 2009)

Thanks Laurie.
The kittens eyes are better and there has been no more sneezing from them. Jasmine doesn't seem much different but is holding her own. Thanks for all your help!!


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