Originally posted by slick
Oh dear sweet Nakita, I'm so sorry, but happy that it seems to be a mild case. How on earth would she have contracted it?? We know how humans can get it but what about cats??
Here's a question and answer I copied from The International Cat Association (TICA) website:

QUESTION

Feline Herpes

Hi,
My husband and I aquired a female ( ) from a local breeder last year. We talked to several breeders and finally decided to get "Lexy" from a local breeder who has a small, clean cattery. All her cats are healthy and friendly and displayed no signs of illness when we got Lexy. Since then we got a second cat from the same breeder. This time one of the new cats siblings had one slightly weepy eye but none of the other cats seemed ill. Also we looked after my mother in laws adopted shelter cat around Christmas. All cats were in good health before my mother in law's cat came to stay but he ended up developing quite very weepy eyes and sneezing before the visit was over. Our own cats still seem very healthy but they did develop a bit of a sneeze and very mild nasal discharge only detectable when they actually sneezed. All cats have up to date vaccinations and have been to the vet for check ups since these developments. Mother in laws cat's vet suspects feline herpes and our cats vet is not too concerned. She suspects general run of the mill upper respiratory virus that will eventually go away.


My concern is that we want to show and breed our bengal and I understand that feline Herpes never really goes away, it just becomes dormant. Would a positive diagnosis for this ailment mean that breeding for her is not an option? What is the likelyhood that she would infect studs, other cats or
worse yet cause illness and death in her kittens? Would we have to forfeit our plans to show and breed her or another cat because of transmission factors because we choose to keep her as our pet?

ANSWER

Dear Lisa:

First, if you are really concerned a culture to confirm the diagnosis would be needed, as herpes is one of the "run of the mill" upper respiratory viruses of cats. It is true that herpesviral infections become dormant and an infected cat remains so for life. However, this is the rule for most cats rather than the exception (ie many/most cats are infected). Generally, kittens acquire the virus from their mother (who will probably shed the virus without any signs), and assuming that the kittens got colostrum and are well vaccinated they will develop very mild signs as you describe (if your cats were not current, the signs would have been worse). Once they recover, they remain infected and may periodically shed virus but will not show any overt signs of disease.

Herpes infections are no reason to not breed or treat her any different than any other cat; again, the majority of normal cats are already infected. The only time severe disease is seen in kittens is when they are colostrum deprived and/or poorly vaccinated so that they are not immune when they are small. The queen should also be vaccinated with a killed-virus vaccine during pregnancy so
that she will pass on the maximal amount of immunity to the kittens. I agree with your vet and also would not be overly concerned about herpes.

J. Lindsay Oaks DVM, PhD, Dip ACVM