lysine??

[Saly]

Has anyone used this supplement? I am thinking of giving it to Ben for her sore lips? The vet came and gave her steriods and antibiotics, but people have seemed to have good results with lysine. She still is not eating alot yet, hopefully today.
Sally

[marie73]

Yes, many members here use it. I bought mine in a health food store, in powder form.

[Marcia]

I started using it when our Missy had eye surgery to have a growth removed. The doc perscribed it. She said the growth (corneal sequestrium) resulted from a form of herpes virus and that the lysine would help boost her immune system. I buy it in powdered form from a health food store and give it to all my 6 indoor cats. They used to get colds and when one got sick, they all got it. It's been years now since I've been giving it to them, and they rarely get sick - I attribute it in part to the lysine every day.

[lyle]

All I have in antidotal evidence. My wife suffers from cold sores and nothing seemed to work. By word of mouth she heard of L-lysine. I'm not much of a believer in this kind of stuff, but hey! She started using it and the cold sores reoccured much less often and when they did, went away very quickly. I started reading a little and came to believe that L-lysine is one of the amino acids that the body uses in forming the protein coat around viruses as a defense mechanism against viruses. For those whose natural production of L-lysine is not up to par, adding it as a supplement may be beneficial. That at least made some sense to this (ex) scientist and took it out of the mumbo-jumbo that surrounds so much of this stuff.

That is what I've come to accept. Now, as the caregiver of several FeLV+ cats, I give them all L-lysine. Do they need it? I don't know. Does it help? I don't know that either. I'm not in a position to conduct experiments of this nature. It doesn't cause any harm that I'm aware of. My vet has no objections and supports its use as an immune system booster without coming out and giving it a ringing endorsement.

So, for me, it's one of those things that I'll do because its possible benefits for my FeLV+ cats outweigh the cost/effort involved. Good Luck. Do some research.

[3furbabies]

I use this all the time on mine. It's great for when they get sneezy or runny eyes. I use to buy it online that was made just for cats but shipping its outrageous now so I buy the human kind and crush it up.


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[Zilla]

I give it to mine too... 250 mgs maintenance ..... 500 mgs for when they are sneezy... I found mine at a health food store in a powder capsule form. I think the brand is called NOW. They are 500 mg capsules and I dump half and half into each cats food...


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[anie]

yes, I give Blackberry around 250mg per day because he has some issues with runny nose and sneezing. I have been giving him lysine for about 3 weeks, and he is doing better (however I cannot say it's only lysine, i also started running humidifier in the room he sleeps, b/c it's super dry lately, and he got shot of antibiotic to help his URI few weeks ago).
I have heard though that lysine is great for cats with viral cat colds (feline herpes virus), but it takes time to see effects and the best you can do is to feed it to your cat daily, always.

I bought viralys from amazon (i got free shipping), because it smells like fish so my super picky Blackberry actually eats it with his food. But when I run out, I will likely buy just human lysine from regular store.

[anie]

Also I forgot to add that if your cat has ongoing problem, it's recommended to give him/her 500mg lysine per day, and after few days switch to 250mg per day as a maintenance dose, even if your cat does not show symptoms of cold/sores anymore.

hope this helps!

[librarychick]

Three of my cats get this daily...Torri would never dream of snuggling or grooming with the others so she doesn't get it.

Jitzu get 1000mg/day to help keep her herpes under control. I notice a big difference if she's off it for a few days (due to my forgetting to buy it and then forgetting to go to the store...). Muffin and Doran get approx 250mg/day, and I give Muffin more (1000mg/day) if he starts showing symptoms. Usually for Muffin 3-4 days of the big dose will put him right back to normal.

As far as why it works there is a scientific reason. L-lysine binds to the virus and stops it from reproducing, so as long as the cat has a strong immune system they can then fight off the virus.

In Jitzu's case she also has permanent nasal damage from her initial flare-up, so the stress of that chronic issue constantly irritates her immune system, and weakens it. I've tried lowering her dose in the past, and it's always ended up with her losing weigh and energy as the virus replicates and starts battling her immune system again.

The L-lysine will only help if feline herpes is the issue...that being said the vast majority of cats who have been outside, at a shelter, or at a home with cats who have been outside or at a shelter. The virus is so easy to transmit that the overwhelming majority of cats have a latent version that doesn't show up unless they are stressed you might never know it until they have a flare up.

Muffin has that type, when he does get sniffy or has runny eyes I just give him a bigger dose for a few days and he perks right back up. Doran gets it as a preventative since he snuggles and grooms with both Muffin and Jitzu on a regular basis, but he has never shown me that he has it.

[snowy]

Originally Posted by Zilla

I give it to mine too... 250 mgs maintenance ..... 500 mgs for when they are sneezy... I found mine at a health food store in a powder capsule form. I think the brand is called NOW. They are 500 mg capsules and I dump half and half into each cats food...


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I also bought the NOW brand, but not the capsule, its the 100% pure powder. I have just started giving ET 250mg daily. He's been getting on/off tearing and brown eye discharge and is FIV+, so am adding it as a prevention. It certainly is alot cheaper than using colloidal silver whenever he gets teary.