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<6 Aug 98 From: Jnglecats@ Re Lysine>

Someone on the Somali list wrote about this (see below).  Do you think a supplement of this kind is needed when cats are on a natural diet?  We have been talking about how to get weight on the cats.  But shouldn't all the amino acids be already in the food?  Please let me know what you guys think since my Kiki could use a little boost.  His weight is ok, but I feel if he misses a meal or 2, which he does cause some times he gets finicky, I get nervous that we're on another downward spiral.  On the other hand I have the 2 fatcats, Peach and Cleo, who don't need any help at all!

Thanks for your input.
Lee

<< I have used a supplement in the past that is called PBF (Professional  Breeders Formula) that contains Lysine and other amino acids. This stuff  is great for covering the backbone on cats, allergies, etc. I haven't  found that it increases the cats appetite though, just makes what they  do eat work better.

 All commercial cat food has been cooked, and that destroys the amino  acids.

 I use the PBF on a as needed basis, others I know use it daily. I can  guarantee results with this product because I have seen them myself. My  first use was with my Maine Coon. This was years ago when I had fleas  (nasty things, thank God for Advantage, Program, etc.) and the poor  thing had tapeworms. Even though he was given pills, shots, etc. he  could never get rid of them and they ate him up. His backbone stuck out  something horrible. Marilyn with PBF guaranteed that I would see results  in 3 days after starting him on PBF. Being the skeptic that I am, I  didn't believe her, but she was right. In three days, his spine filled  out and got broad, his coat improved, it was amazing. I have seen it  cure food allergies, skin irritations, as well as adding muscle and body  tone.

Well, that's my commercial for now, but the effects of adding amino  acids back into the food has a very beneficial effect. >>

Here's more info I got from the Somali list.
Lee

<< Certain amino acids, when combined together with one another will cause an  increase in growth hormone levels. Actually, body builders use suplemental  l-lysine (together with l-arginine) because  growth hormones  have a muscle building effect.
 But back to felines: Studies have shown that the requirement for lysine in growing kittens tends to increase as the level of total protein in the diet increases. This effect may be especially important because lysine is often the first limiting amino acid in grain based commercial diets (limiting amino acid means: if only one EAA=essential amino acid is missing in the  protein source of the diet then the missing EAA is called limiting and this  means that biological value=0!).

Furthermore, lysine  is susceptible to certain types of processing damage  that can occur in  commercially prepared diets, eg. exposure to excessive  heat induces  crosslinking between AA, resulting in decreased digestibility  of total  protein (one more reason to feed raw beside that it leaves enzymes intact:-)) Therefore, if feeding an inbalanced  commercial diet adding lysine may indeed increase body weight. However, best  is to feed a diet balanced  of all EAA  (excesses of certain AA have to be avoided specifically methionine  and arginine or weight loss might occur.

Note: As well as you can use certain AA combinations to gain weight you can use other combinations actually to lose weight!). Studies have even shown, that it appears to be beneficial if the diet contains some DAA (dispensable or nonessential AA), too.

As Gabriele asked for adverse effect of using supplemental lysine: Lysine has little or no toxicity. However, in human studies it appeared that once therapy for herpes was stopped, outbreakes were not uncommon. Don't know if that would apply  to felines, too since I couldn't find any studies. Lysine's effect  on herpes outbreak prevention seems to be controversial but many report successful results. It is also said that arginine rich foods help the herpes virus to replicate by negating the effects of lysine. But also this seems to be a subject of debate.
Christine>>

Susan,

<<For those of you following George's story (my FeLV+ cat), he's doing really well>>
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I am glad to hear it! George's success adds to our collective success. I have saved your posts re: how you care for and supplement your cats, and they have been very helpful for Wiley. We have you and George to thank for that. Just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate your help.
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I don't think I mentioned it before, but I too use lysine --to get rid of canker sores before they even form. I keep it on hand in cold & flu season (now) and when I feel a cold coming on, I add extra C and lysine (500mg) to my vitamins, and never seem to get those d*mn cold sores any more... if I feel a tingle, like a blister might be forming, I take 2000mgs in one shot, and that zaps it. just thought I'd pass that along and maybe help a few humans, too.

sue

I use Lysine for George's herpes & it works really well. (250mg a day maintenance; 500mg a day when the virus is active.)

Susan
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Yes, this is the dosage I use although I have stopped giving George Lysine everyday now (have been alternating days).  Odila, the L-Lysine works very well for George.  If his eye begins to water and i give him 500 mg of Lysine a day, by the next day or the next it has cleared up.  I know others haven't had as much luck w/  Lysine, but I did!  Good luck!

Susan
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I used this for my boy's cold, he got over it quickly without it developing into anything more serious.  I also used Cat's Claw, which is supposed to be very good for the immune system.  The only websites I found tho were sales sources, and they said the only kind to use is from the rainforests of Peru (I think).  Anyone know anything else about Cat's Claw?
Lee

Hi all,

It's me again. I got this paper called Why does the cat require a high protein diet? by Q.R. Rogers and J.G. Morris from University of California Davis. So I thought it might be interesting to share with you all.

There are two reasons why any animals including human need protein. 1) protein is required to provide the essential amino acids; meaning to provide the carbon skeletons (together with nitrogen and sulphur for part of the essential amino acids), for protein synthesis and for the variety of other derivatives, such as carnitine and several biogenic amines. 2) Protein is required to provide nitrogen; meaning to provide nitrogen for a wide variety of compounds such as dispensable amino acids, creatine, heme, purines, pyrimidines choline, etc.

For the reason of 1), they alter the cat's diet to see what amino acid is required for growth and if cat requires higher amount of amino acids than any other animals.

The essential amino acid for cats are Arginine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Methionine, Leucine, Lysine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, tryptophan, Valine. Inadequate synthesis amino acids are Asparagine, Cystine, Glycine or Serine, Taurine. Adequate synthesis amino acids are Alanine, Aspartic acid, Glutamine, Proline, Serine of Olycine, Tyrosine.

When they left out those essential amino acids, the kitten gain weight slower than with those amino acids. Inadequate synthesis amino acid had little influence in weight gain. Adequate synthesis amino acids had no effect on weight gain.

The most unusual and unique finding came when they left Arginine out of their diets. Rather than showing a day's lag of neither gain or loss, kittens lost weight in the first day. By the end of the second day, two kittens were aphagic and lethargic. When Arginine was included in their diet, they promptly recovered. They could not believe what they saw, so they made sure with second test with different group. This time two kitten had diarrhea. Although ammonia intoxication was suspected, the blood test did not show elevated ammonia levels. But it did show low arginic and extensive hyperglycaemia. The symptoms of Arginine-free diet are hypersalivation and frothing from the mouth, depression with eye closed, nodding of the head, hyperaesthesia, sudden hyperactivity, moaning, ataxia, tetanic spasms with emprosthotonus. Even with low Arginine, the kittens had diarrhea and was vomiting. The cat is unable to make Ornithine, and unable to make Arginine even if Ornithine is provided. This is very different from other animals

However, the required levels for Alginine for cat's growth was not more than any other animals. Therefore, the cat required a high protein diet because of an unusually high requirement for one or more of the essential amino acids is nullified.

Next for the reason 2), they examined the effect of level of dietary protein on possible adaptation in hepatic nitrogen catabolic enzymes. Most mammals can adjust to various levels of protein intake. If the animals are fed low protein, hepatic amino acid catabolic enzymes  decrease so that a lower proportion of the amino acids from the diet are catabolized. This enable s the animals to conserve nitrogen. And when animals are fed high protein, the opposite will happen.

They fed adult cats either high (70%) or low (17.5%) protein diets for one month and checked the activities of three urea cycle enzymes and several nitrogen catabolic enzymes in liver. They found little difference between enzymes activities of cats fed the low as compared to the high protein diet. This means enzyme activities in cat remains the same low or high protein diets. Nitrogen catabolic enzymes are permanently set to handle a high protein diet and that cat's liver does not have the capability of adjusting the activities of the nitrogen catabolic enzymes, thus resulting in a high obligatory nitrogen loss when cats are fed a low protein diet. So, this is why the cat needs high protein diet.

-- Yumi

In a message dated 2/25/99 9:18:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, dkeb@ writes:
<< The result from the vets visit is Chlamydiosis. >>

This is exactly what our old, allo doc said about Liam.  After his booster, he really got sick.  I tho't we'd lose him.  Eventually, he got better, but that watery eye thing still comes back about once or twice a year for him, and about once or twice a month for Fiona, if under stress.  I've read alot about these cures, etc., esp. about VSC, but w/out a proper diagnosis, I dare not administer something like that.

I find that L-lysine really helps and when the eye looks red and watery, I give them each 500 mg., then 250 mg each the next day.  It's usually gone by then.

Surely, we can heal our babies!  We need more info and a steady hand to guide us.

Judi & the MacFolds

what to give a cat with mouth ulcers?  This cat belongs to a friend of mine and has not had her tested for aids or leukemia?
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If you are talking about mouth ulcers and not abscesses or cold sores -  Lysine taken internally can help with prevention and there is a prescription topical medicine called Aphthasol (it is a gritty kind of ointment) that helps clear up the ulcers a day or two sooner than they would without it (they usually last about 10 days). Other than that there really is no other treatment except pain management, they can be so painful and the only thing I have found to help is a lidocaine type mouth  rinse or topical pain killers like for babies teething.  They used to think mouth ulcers were herpes related but the doctors are now rethinking that conclusion and looking more toward stress problems, what else is new.