Feline Herpesvirus

[tlbward]

I have 5 barn cats (horse barn, well kept)..three are from the same litter. All of these cats have been together since June of this year. All cats have been FIV/Fe-Leuk tested (negative) and all have been vaccinated against FVRCP and Fe-Leuk...and all are spayed and neutered.
We have no neighboring cats, and no strays that come around.
Two nights ago one of the cats had red weepy, swollen eyes, today, three of them have the same eye problem and are now coughing and sneezing.
All are eating and drinking. I gave them each .5cc of penicillin and washed their eyes with warm saline.
They have been vaccinated and are up to date with no other cat contact...how did they get this virus?
tlbward

[~K~]

Hi, I'm sorry your cats are sick. I had a Somali who was a silent carrier of the herpes virus and I brought in two vaccinated kittens who both cought the flu very badly. Our cats have a an outdoor pen, but it has sneeze barriers, and they never meet other cats so it seems that they must have cought the flu from our resident cat. Our vet managed to isolate the virus from a throat swab taken from the sickest kitten - it was the herpes 1 - It seems as though vaccination doesn't prevent this illness, but makes the outcome less severe. My own kittens were so sick that I feel they would not be alive if it had been more severe! Maybe their mother was a silent carrier. I feel sad that vaccine seems to fail so many times and I have heard many stories like ours, where people are unsure of how their cat became sick. I suppose an unfortunate set of circumstances are to blame :-(