Vaccinations

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Nicole & Baby

Nicole & Baby

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Hi, Baby & Sadi are both due for vaccinations at their new vet. They are primarily inside cats, but they do get "aired" out daily - with me supervising - not allowed to free roam. What vaccinations do they need for their appointment next month? Thanks! cat_pet_icon
 
Thanks, I had read Dr. Lisa's excellent written article when she first published it & completely agree. I was under the impression some vaccinations are necessary & did not know none were. If the Vet wants to do distemper.. rabies, etc. I wanted to be prepared. I am really sorry to know about Chicken.. thank you for commenting.
 
Many studies have found that the vaccinations are lasting many, many years. That's why I feel comfy not vaccinating my kitties. Also, they are indoor. Thankfully, Chicken is doing so much better now.
 
Great on the Chicken update :-D
I am not going to allow them to vaccinate.. hopefully they will still see them.. do vets usually require up to date vaccinations? I am just not going to mention it & if asked... let them know at this point they do not need any. I appreciate you giving me your opinions too.
 
depends on the vets. mine does not require them. she recommends the kitten series and the 1 yr booster but does not push the owner either way. as i have heard her say, she is there to educate, explain things, and give options but ultimately it is the owner's decision what they do regarding any treatment. mind you i have a good enough relationship with her to put her on the spot and ask her "what would you do?" and she does answer me honestly.

i have seen emergency hospitals or boarding facilities require them sooooooo

i lost a cat to VAS already and am trying my best to not lose another one so in all honesty, if someplace ever insisted on it to me, i'd just go somewhere else. of course i live in a highly populated area of the country and i have that option but not everyone does so if i were in that situation, i'd do a boatload of data gathering and stick it in their face about how the vaccines have been causing cancer and that in an already health compromised animal it is not advisable and that for indoor animals it's not warranted and so on and so forth :-)
 
Thanks, Cindy.. good information too - I also live in an area that has me surrounded with options, more Vets than I can count :lol:
We really like who we have now & just switched so hopefully we won't be pressured. Both of mine are 10 & are well past their initial shots ;-)
 
Only healthy cats should be vaccinated. You could always use that "out". A cat with diabetes could be considered "not healthy". Good luck to you!!!!

Jenny
 
My vet does the first round of kitten vaccinations and then only the Purevax rabies vaccination every year.

If you ever plan on boarding your cat, the boarding place may require proof of up to date vaccinations especially rabies.
 
Hey, Nicole... I recently faced the same question and opted to go with just rabies for Willie. It is a requirement for Roeland Park, and with it being a small city with an active animal control department, I didn't want to risk not having Willie licensed, plus we have a lot of squirrels and chipmunks in the yard and he does go outside some.

If you opt for rabies, make sure you go with the Purevax vaccine and that the person administering the vaccine gives it in the right rear leg. If you're having trouble finding a vet with the vaccines you want, Dearborn Animal Clinic in Mission will ONLY give purevax. We saw Dr. Guglielmino and I could not have been more impressed with his knowledge of vaccine-associated sarcomas and his choices in vaccine options. He really took the time to discuss options and was very comfortable with the risk/reward analysis I had done and didn't pressure me to opt for anything beyond the rabies shot. I know it is out of the way for you, but just wanted you to know he was there if you were having problems finding someone closer. The clinic is on Johnson Drive, a block west of Mission Medvet.

Good luck!
 
If you live in an area of the US where rabies is in the wild animal population at least consider the rabies vaccine. While my cats are all indoor all the time, I have been in the unenviable position of having found a live bat in my house in a year when there had already been several confirmed cases of rabies in bats and skunks in the area. Fortunately the bat was captured, and tested negative for rabies. We were told that bats can get thru a hole the size of a dime. The house we were in at the time was 100+ years old so no great mystery how it got in, but with that small of an opening needed even a newer house could have one get in if they are around in your area.

Another consideration, if you work (even volunteer) in a shelter, as I do, and are often around animals who may have come from situations where you have no idea what they may have been exposed to, you may want to consider other vaccinations even if your cats are all indoor all the time. While all the cats at the shelter I volunteer at are vetted and vaccinated on the way in, some come from situations where we have no idea WHAT they may have been exposed to.

I'm not saying to vaccinate or not vaccinate, you'll have to make up your own mind given your own circumstances. Just saying to consider all the possibilities given your own situation.

Paula and Nanner
 
Thanks again, everyone.

Christie.. I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to let me know about the Purevax vaccine, I just called their Vet & that is the only one they give too, so we will be making our appointment for the rabies, as they both go outside from time to time. I want to make sure.. nobody recommends the distemper or the feline leukemia? She did have those in the past, but I want to make sure she is ok if she encounters another animal.. the office said they will only give the rabies if that is what I want, but they do recommend the Feline Leukemia & Distemper too. But naturally I am going to go with what you all tell me :-D
 
There is a lot of research out there that vaccines actually last much longer than the one or three years they are supposed to. Good luck. Be sure to monitor the vaccination site (rear right leg as low as possible) for any lumps. I wish someone had told me that.

Jenny
 
Jenny.. will do.. bless your heart, I just hate what you & Chicken have went through. I too, wish I would have known a lot more since Day 1 of being a cat owner, but as the saying goes "When we know better, we do better" now we know & move forward. I am going to see when the last time is they got them - I think yearly - but will opt for every 4/5 years I think with the distemper & leukemia.. but still do the rabies annually. Again, I appreciate everyone's input.
 
I don't know if this is helpful to you but my vet advised NOT to vaccinate Willy when he was in for his checkup. She believed that, due to his diabetes, his immune system may be compromised and may not be able to handle the "load" from vaccines. Willy had an unknown start (we took him in as an adult stray) but since we have had him, he has been properly vaccinated, and we keep him indoors (but he is prone to door dashing) so this also played a role in her advise.

She wrote us a note for our apartment (requires proof of vaccination or titer) stating that it was her professional opinion that he was not a public health risk and that he should not be given vaccinations due to his diabetes. They accepted it.

In general, the vets at the clinic I go to do not vaccinate "older" adult animals that have been properly vaccinated in the past unless its specifically requested. They also won't give vaccines/medications that aren't "needed". Like, we don't have a ticks here, apparently, so they didn't recommend frontline or something similar since the risk of chemical burn actually outweighs the risk of getting ticks, same with heartworm medication- no instance of heartworm only recommended if you travel or want to start a prevention in case it comes up in the future.

My senior cat did not receive any shots (was properly vaccinated prior). My 3 y/o cat received rabies and some other shot (distemper maybe? I forget). My dog was the same (rabies and something else).
 
Nicole & Baby said:
Thanks again, everyone.

Christie.. I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to let me know about the Purevax vaccine, I just called their Vet & that is the only one they give too, so we will be making our appointment for the rabies, as they both go outside from time to time. I want to make sure.. nobody recommends the distemper or the feline leukemia? She did have those in the past, but I want to make sure she is ok if she encounters another animal.. the office said they will only give the rabies if that is what I want, but they do recommend the Feline Leukemia & Distemper too. But naturally I am going to go with what you all tell me :-D
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Yay!! That is good news!! I had to call like 5 vets before I found one that even offered purevax! From what I've read, if Baby and Sadi have had distemper and Feline leukemia vaccines previously, they are most likely still protected. Given the extreme unlikelihood of them encountering other cats, I think I would go with just rabies in your shoes. One other factor to consider is that while your girls are young and (but for Baby's diabetes) healthy, vaccines other than rabies have been shown to increase risk of kidney disease as well. That was the factor that did it for me, especially given that Willie is 14-15 years old, so his kidneys are a high priority to me.

Jenny, I'm so glad you shared Chicken's story. It definitely affected my decision making and I know my decision is so much more informed because of the emotional impact Chicken's story had... I think it made me so much more inclined to take the recommendations on Dr. Lisa's page very seriously. Your guy is definitely making a difference!

I ultimately opted for rabies because I felt like it was the responsible thing to do if I was going to allow Willie to be outdoors. My boy is getting up there in years, and has put up with living in studio apartments, crummy trailers, and has endured two cross-country moves. He takes such immense joy in the outdoors that I decided I could not deny him (fully supervised) access to our backyard.

Glad I could be of help, Nicole! Good luck with the girls' vet visit!!
 
Keep in mind that it is VERY difficult to infect an adult cat with the leukemia virus and requires prolonged, intimate contact with an infected cat and even with that....it is still hard to infect adult cats.

It is not transmitted by either casual contact with an infected cat or via the environment. In other words, if an infected cat wanders through your yard and then your cat goes out in the yard....he is not going to end up FeLV positive.

In the challenge studies conducted by the vaccine companies, they had to immunosupress the control cats with steroids before they could infect them with the virus.

This is definitely not a vax that I would be giving to a primarily indoor adult cat. But having said that, my barn cat has not even had a felv vax in probably 10 years. (He is 13.)
 
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