Worried about FVRCP vaccine

[Whitney and Jonas]

Hello! I hope everyone has been well. It's been a long time for me; caring for my mom and keeping up with my job has been a lot and I haven't had the time to keep up with the forums. Jonas is doing well, though has had some struggles with pancreatitis lately - but he's recovering well from his most recent flareup

I wanted to ask some opinions about the FVRCP vaccine. I know this can be a divisive issue but I am really struggling lately. To summarize things as neatly as possible:

None of my mom and I's cats are UTD on their FVRCP shots. They're all rescues and were presumably vaccinated as kittens and again before we adopted them. Jonas and our second oldest kitty both at least had some annual shots, but the second oldest kitty, my mom's cat Martin, had a bad reaction to one (not sure if FVRCP or rabies) and our vet at the time said that since they're all 100% inside, it really wasn't that big of a deal. We haven't gotten annual vaccines since then and it's never been an issue for years.

Flash forward to about a month ago, when a local ER vet put out an urgent post that was covered by a news station about a breakout of panleukopenia in my area of the US, the likes of which have not been seen in years. It has had me terrified ever since, since I learned that humans could carry it in on shoes, clothing, etc. I've bought Rescue and I sanitize my shoes whenever I enter the house now, but nothing is easing my fears. I can barely sleep anymore, it's hard to focus on work, my panic disorder that I've had under control for a while now is worsening drastically and I'm having panic attacks again. I have a nightmare scenario in my head that one of the cats will get panleuk and spread it to the other cats and I will lose all 7 of them and end my own life out of grief and guilt. I cannot get this entire scenario out of my head and I am making myself crazy.

I do care for some feral/stray cats in my area. A couple of them tragically passed away over the recent months which has added to my anxiety, but I have no way of proving what caused it. A yearish old male in May seemed to have more URI type symptoms but the other more recent one seemed healthy, but was older and our weather has been unbearably hot some days. But two mama cats who a local foster helped me TNR were perfectly healthy, as were the 8 kittens between them. I know panleuk hits kittens especially hard so I would have thought they would have been the first to succumb if it were in my immediate area. Some additional kittens sadly did not make it, but it was in the first few hours and days of life when they were very fragile, no one ever seemed sick.

I thought the best route would be to get my cats all, or at least most of them (maybe not Jonas due to being diabetic + elderly and my mom's cat who had a bad reaction), UTD on vaccines. But of course I reverted back to consulting with Google, and now I see many of the controversy about vaccines, and I'm scared the other way now. I had made appointments as of this morning but now I'm wondering if I should cancel, but then my panleuk fears won't stop. I've seen some suggest that the kitten FVRCP shots provide lifelong immunity, but the owner they spoke to in the local story stated that their cat was overdue for vaccination, so I'm terrified. But I'm also terrified of sarcomas, and everything else I've read, especially since I lost my first cat to CKD.

Does anyone have any advice, or any assurance at all? I seriously feel like I'm not even living life anymore. I'm petrified every day and can't enjoy hobbies or even get my job done, and I really can't afford to be this way at work.

Thank you so much for any help/advice/reassurance.

Blessings,
Whitney

 

[Denver & Magic (GA)]

I just had a similar conversation with Magic's vet this morning. I had to bring him in due to a major abscess on his lip.
Magic is 16. He told me that since he is diabetic, elderly and doesn't go outside on his own that he'd actually prefer he NOT be vaccinated. He said that his advanced age with all of the potential kidney, liver, heart issues that come with that he thinks it would be a better 'quality of life' for him to not have it done.

I'm on the fence myself but he - of all people - made a strong argument in Magic's case for NOT doing it. So, for now, I'm going to hold off and broach the subject at his next non-emergency visit.

 

[Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall]

I would suspect that those animals had never been previously vaccinated against panleukopenia. These outbreaks usually happen in unvaccinated feral colonies and shelters that do not immediately vaccinate and isolate incoming kittens. The isolation part is important, especially when bringing an unvaccinated kitten/ cat home.

Cats that were vaccinated at the appropriate age - between 4 and 12 months - are believed to have lifetime immunity. At least one study found that cats challenged and titred 7.5 years after vaccination still had a high level of immunity. The study ended but immunity was likely much longer. Unvaccinated kittens, cats with depressed immune systems and pregnant cats are at the highest risk of developing severe disease.

As long as you continue to be careful by disinfecting shoes, washing hands, etc. your cats should be fine.

Personally, I do not vaccinate my indoor-only cats or dogs beyond the initial vaccines and the cats typically live to their late teens/ early twenties.

More here:
https://catinfo.org/vaccines-for-cats-we-need-to-stop-overvaccinating/#Decision-Making_Criteria

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

I was surprised that my vet said she didn't really think it was necessary to get our older cats more boosters and shots. We switched vets earlier this year when Hendrick was diagnosed and our previous vet was always pushing hard for every vax imaginable, pushing hard for us to buy revolution and dose our cats monthly, pushing hard for all sort of things that would require $$

very refreshing to have a new vet who took a different approach

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

All our cats get the FVRCP vaccine but there are situations where it may not be warranted. When we lived in an apartment and our neighbor boarded our cats at home they never had reason to leave the home and other than the vet never came into contact with other pets or wildlife. As they got into the late teens and early twenties there was even less of a reason.
It's different here. The dog and Marco the cat both get tick, heartworm and rabies vaccines and since we've had to board them all frequently and with little notice the last two years the FVRCP was mandatory.
There are times when one or more cats who have been living a solitary and healthy life but are getting older can be over vaccinated. I'm not an anti-vax kook, I know I can track in all kinds of nasty things on my shoes and earlier this year pulled the biggest tick off the dog the vet had ever seen. We get frequent raccoon distemper outbreaks here. You have to see a raccoon having a middle of the day meltdown to believe it, it's not pleasant.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I do care for some feral/stray cats in my area. A couple of them tragically passed away over the recent months which has added to my anxiety, but I have no way of proving what caused it.

Because of that I would make sure that they have had their FVRCP vaccine. All my cats get the rabies, which is required by law/statute, and the FVRCP vaccine every 3 years. For new to me cats with not real vaccine status I get the FVRCP vaccine and then every 3 years.