Three-year vaccines

Ok, this is sort of a rant.

Anyway, my vet and I agree that the rabies vaccine is likely good for three years even though it's only labeled for one year. In my town, though, cats have to be vaccinated yearly. There is a labeled 3-year vaccine, but there is a risk of sarcoma with that vaccine, so my vet doesn't reccomend it. The county will not even accept blood titers as proof that the vaccination is still good. I would be willing to pay for annual titers.

My vet is going to a 3-year protocol for the distemper combo since that one is not legally required.

The reason I am concerned about this is because of Polly's condition (cystitis). We need to avoid stimulating her immune system too much. With a normal, healthy cat, an annual vaccination is not a big deal, but for cats with health conditions, it can be.

Sorry, I am done ranting now.

I completely understand ya, I choose not to give my leukemia cats annual vaccinations past their kitten ones due to their compromised immune systems... I remember Gingersmom's vet wrote her a "pass" for Ginger's vaccs due to Ginger's bad reaction last time, maybe your vet could do something similar due to Polly's illness?

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

I completely understand ya, I choose not to give my leukemia cats annual vaccinations past their kitten ones due to their compromised immune systems... I remember Gingersmom's vet wrote her a "pass" for Ginger's vaccs due to Ginger's bad reaction last time, maybe your vet could do something similar due to Polly's illness?

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I think I'll ask her about it in a year. I'm getting her vaccines this year because it'll be her first year booster. I'm not exactly sure what the law says, if the vet can write a special note. I also don't want to get her in trouble for seeing an unregistered cat.

Also, we're spacing the rabies vaccine and the distemper combo a month apart so she doesn't have to get both shots at once. My vet wants to get me some urine test strips so I can do Polly's urine testing at home, and if she's successful, I think I'll do a test before Polly's distemper combo and make sure all is well bladder-wise.

It makes sense to me to skip vaccines in leukemia cats, since their immune systems aren't really working properly anyway. The vaccine might not be very effective in that case.