Chronic URV vs Allergies?

[Kittyfostermom]

One of my foster fails came to me as a kitten needing a break from the shelter to recover from URV (and she never left!). Over the 5 months I've had her she seemed to have a recurrence every month or so with no real explanation & the vet diagnosed her with chronic URV. We've now been limited to only fostering other URV kitty's, but the more cases I see the more I'm wondering if my Peppers been misdiagnosed? Her flare ups consist of sneezing and clear discharge from one eye only, no coloured discharge, no loss of appetite, lethargy, etc. this past URV flare up started about 24 hrs after I replaced their litter with a different- and dustier brand. Is it possible she just has a dust allergy & is there any way to be sure? I've switched back to our old litter brand but also had her on lysine for a few days so hard to say what will be the catalyst in her getting better. I wouldn't want to expose high risk fosters to her if she is chronic but at the same time, if she's not chronic URV I won't keep exposing her to the virus!

[Reg]

Hi there:

There is a possibility that the switch in the litter may have had something to do with the issue, and stressed the kitty, but can't be certain.

You could very well be dealing with a stress factor with other kitties coming into the house. With some kitties, anything different is enough to stress them out.

You say you only used the L-Lysine for a couple of days. When I used it, I used it for about a year and the kitty was on a combo of kibble and raw food. When I switched her completely to raw food - which I make myself - the condition all disappeared.

Did the vet prescribe the L-Lysine? Our vet at the time, recommended it. I would suggest that perhaps you should try using it for at least a month so you can get a good handle on it. How much are you giving to Peppers.

Here's a web site that has a lot of information that might be of value to you. I'm including it in case you hadn't seen it before.

http://harpsie.com/cat_flu.htm

Keep us informed on your progress.