Indoor cats + shots

In answer to sarahbeez question:

The FVRCP is the basic combination shot. FVR stands for feline rhinotracheitis, an upper respiratory infection resulting in conjunctivitis, sneezing, nasal discharge, eye lesions and occasional coughing. The letter C stands for calicivirus, a virus that can cause similar respiratory signs. These diseases account for 95% of upper respiratory infections in cats. Many adult cats are carriers, even though they may have no signs themselves of the disease. The P is for panleukemia or known as "feline distemper virus." This disease causes vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, fever and sudden death in cats. A sign of distemper is a yellow fluid discharge from a cats eyes, particularly found in stray cats

Maui is a very handsome boy!

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

I just do whatever my vet says...and so YES i do get her shots annually. I don't know if its the law here..maybe.

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The more I read, the less I'm inclined to do whatever my vet says just because I think she knows better. I'm on my way this AM to get Cindy's annual checkup, and gathering up all the ammunition I can find to avoid any and all vaccinations. I feel the potential harm is greater than the potential benefit.

Sorry, wanted to revive this post again temporarily.
There seems to be mixed feelings on whether to vaccinate or not for indoor cats. Rabies yes, other stuff.....if they are indoors - some yes, some no. As for me I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but was just wondering from some of you that don't do annuals - how does your vet handle that decision? I'm afraid of going in to the vets office, requesting a wellness exam and a rabies shot, then telling him no on other stuff. In my mind - he's going to look at me like an idiot and tell me 100 reasons why I'm making a bad decision. Anyone else have feedback from their vets on this?

My vet is actually the one who suggests not vaccinating yearly , she actually is hoping by the time the three yrs are up on two of mine shots will be five to sevan yrs so no fear here about the yrly trip... Most vets here are on three yr protacol

I don't think you should be afraid to be honest with your vet. Just tell him you are not having the vaccines done for whatever your reasons, if he tries to persuade you otherwise, just say, maybe next time. That's all, he is working for you. If it is a life threatening condition, I would understand being fearful of going against his advice, but these are vaccines. These are optional.

It's your cat, and your decision. Not the vets decision.

my cats are on the 3 year plan for distemper vaccinations. my vet is ok with this, as this protocol is accepted. for the rabies shot we are kind of stuck, every year. but we get the Purevax rabies shot. it's also the only one our clinic even offers for cats. they said they had seen too many VAS from the 3-yr rabies shot. my guys are all indoors-only. we used to do the FeLV shot too, but i discontinued that in 2002 i think.

I changed vets after last year's shots and am not sure if Gizmo had the one year or three year shots. Since she is a strictly indoor cat the vet is going to have to call the previous vet (who did not mark the type of vaccine used on his forms) and will get back to me. We are betting that she has had the three year shots.

I like a vet who errs on the side of caution.

My cats have had their initial vaccenations, and they won't be getting any more if I can help it. Luna (who seems to be our cat with all the health problems!) had a bad reaction and developed a tumor at the sight were the injections were placed. It was between the shoulder blades (apparently that vet didn't keep up with the fact that they're suppost to go on their hind legs) and she had to had lump removed. Its scarry because the doc said that if left for much longer then the tumor had the possiblitly to become malignent. Luna seems to have bad reactions to everything- so far vaccenations and internal stitches. It's worth it to me to opt out of vaccinations if I can help it. If she ever has to be boarded or anything I may get her a the distemper vacc- (which I think she might already have? ) Anyways, those are my reasons for not continuing to vaccinate our cats. The vet I use now went throught the whole lump removal thing with me and I'm sure he'll understand and support my dicision.

Ok, I revived this topic mainly because I brought in a stray today who needed a full vets appointment, I have another foster coming due, and I have 3 of my own coming due around Christmas time (I know - poor planning on my part) and I've gotten a lot of insight as to how others do it (and I appreciate the info), but now...here's a follow up question. My newest little one - Cinder - she's the stray. Because I didn't know anything about her, we did a full work up - Leukemia tests, dewormer, Rabies, Distemper, etc. Now the thing is my vet informed me while I was there that this was only the first of her Distemper boosters and he would need to see her again in 3-4 weeks for another, and then that one will last for a year. I remember this same thing with all my others. The distemper is given in a series of 2 or 3 vaccines. Why is this? What is the difference between them? Do I need to go back for the second one? Why can't they just give the annual one to start?
Main reason why I'm asking is because this is a fairly new vet for us and I found out on follow up shots (like this distemper one), we have to pay for a whole new office visit/wellness exam plus the shot when she was only seen less than a month prior. This I totally disagree with and asked the vet why. He said he'd like to see if all is ok with her. Isn't that my responsibility now? He did his job - he gave her an initial exam and now isn't it my job to keep her healthy and watch for things? My old vet had what they called a tech visit. If a cat had to go back for a follow up booster or they missed a vaccine due to illness it only cost like $10 for the tech visit plus the shot. It was great. If I'm going to be fostering - this can get exensive unless I can skip the second booster or I switch back vets.

Ive heard of people doing 'Titers' on their animals. I think it basically shows what resistance the Animal has to the certain disease, and if the levels are found to be high enough there is no need to revaccinate, but if they are very low vaccination is necessary.

I want to ask Ceci's foster mom what she vaccinated her for (doesnt specify on the sheet) and just take her in for her yearly exam. After that I probably never will vaccinate again. My pup was vaccinated at 8 weeks (SO YOUNG!) and I have yet to vaccinate her and probably wont again.

I vaccinated my mother Golden at age 3 months and have yet to revaccinate.