Understanding Feline Rhinotracheitis in Kittens

"Hi! I’m Dr. Adrienne Mulligan and I am the owner of Camp Verde Veterinary Clinic and I am here on behalf of Expert Village.com to talk to you today about caring for kittens. The last little virus that I want to talk about is a long word. It’s called Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis Virus. It is actually a herpes virus. It is in the family of the herpes viruses that make everything in people from cold sores to shingles to chicken pox to genital herpes but none of them are contagious to people or to other animals. It is just a cat herpes virus. But because of the herpes virus, they get it from their mother generally and they keep it all their life. It hides in their nerves and they have little outbreaks as they get older. When they are little, they will be very sick with it but I am sure you have seen little kittens with a yellow discharge in their eyes and nose and they can’t breathe and then they are very sick little kittens. You have to nurse them through that part but later they get older and they don’t have as much of a problem with it because their immune system takes care of it for the most part and then they might just have occasional small outbreaks just like sneezing or eye problems. That is something that many people will mistake for allergies and things like that but it is actually just a viral outbreak like having a cold sore outbreak. Not usually deadly but it runs its course and then it’s gone."