Just got back from da vet... he explained vaccines

Here's the reasons I brought 2 of my cats to the vet: Pirate was getting really sneezy and ucky again plus he had a mysterious lump under his right arm/belly area, and Mama Mia was due for her vaccines.

Well, do I feel like an idiot BIG time. Pirate's lump was his nipple . But I was right to be concerned, because it is not shaped normally and it's harder/larger than the rest. He has an inverted nipple lol ! That's it, nothing more. So I brought my cat to the vet for the vet to look at his nipple that is fine. I'm quite the paranoid mother huh . Pirate was diagnosed with suspected feline herpes less than 6 months ago. Well, I saw a different vet today because my regular vet just delivered her baby last night, and he has a different take on this. He thinks that it is more of an allergy thing with Pirate (used big words, too big for my brain to compute them). So he prescribed him steroids. He's going to be on a high dose for a few days, then slowly go down and see what dose works best, if it works at all. My focus is just to make my baby as comfortable as possible.

And Mia just got her distemper and rabies. With all the talk on here lately about vaccines, I had to talk with my vet about it. Here's what he said (and I must say what he says makes perfect sense to me, in my eyes he's a darn good vet. He was vet to my 5 guinea pigs. Plus, he's cute as heck and has an identical twin brother that is a vet in the same office. I'm truly blessed ) He said that vaccines that do not say they are 3 years, probably won't last the entire 3 years. Some cats it's 100% the first year and 75% the next year, and by the third year it's down to 25%. So, that's why he recommends vaccines every year for me. He said that the vet can give a vaccine and say it's for 3 years, however if he does that then he is completely liable if the cat were to say get distemper after the first year. There is no guarantee. He also said that especially in my case, where there are shelter/rescue cats coming in and out regularly it is VERY important for mine to get vaccinated annually. But then he went on to explain that if a 90-year old woman came in with her 19 year old cat that lives on the 6th floor of a 20-story building, he wouldn't recommend any vaccines for her. So he doesn't just want to make a profit. He also explained that the vaccines that they use at their clinic aren't capable of having cancer happen. He explained that it's not the actual vaccine that gives the cancer, it's elements that can be IN the vaccine (I was confused too). And those elements are not added into their vaccines. But he said that the chances of the cancer are like 50,000 to 1, which is very rare (not a proven number). He also said that Mia's just a fat little cat, nothing much I can do about it. I could try a diet food, but that will risk the other one's weight as they are hard to keep weight on, or keep her the way she is, a tad bit chunky. But it was good to hear that she's not anywhere near obese.

So, all in all it was a great visit. Got some good info and got to see a yummy doc . Now all I have to do is wait and see how the steroids work for my little man.