Do you vaccinate your indoor cats?

Ah, vaxes ... the vet I was using ( who left to be closer to her hubby) preferred the rabies one year- due to injection site sarcoma risk. Not required by law for cats here, but a good thing to do regardless.

Since my boys are indoor only - I debated getting them the RCVFP boosters, but opted to get them their shots. I didn't go back to get the second one - first because a vet tech friend of mine said at the cats' age - full fledged adults.. .they only need a shot every couple of years and the second one doesn't necessarily help. The distemper booster also makes my little Texie-poo very sick. So I am hesitant to do that to him very often or perhaps never again since they are all indoor-only.

NO to the Felv and FIP... they are not core vaxes, IMO.

Tabbi has feline herpes as well, and the past 2 years I noticed she gets a break out about January.. the first time it happened I wasnt sure what was going on, last year I noticed it happened right after she got vaccinated. Im not really sure if its weather related, or related to the vaccines. She does recover well with the l-lysine fortunantly.

I'm leaning towards NOT vaccinating my adult cats. (other than the required rabies).. everyone is indoors only, and I would think that having recieved several vaccines, they'd have an immunity.

I will add.. that no, you should not just blindly do what a vet tells you.

I had one vet that insisted that my dog should be vaccinated for lepto. He tried to claim that dry dog food can contain lepto! I insisted that he should NOT get the lepto vaccine.. I highly suspect that the vet went against my wishes and vaccinated for lepto anyways, as my dog had a reaction later.

I have since found a new vet for my dog that carries a vaccine that only has parvo and distemper... so I take the dog to that vet. He doesnt seem to know so much about cats, as he's the one I suggested vaccinating indoor cats because I live in a rural area. However, he did not know that rabies was legally required.

I have another vet that seems to be more familiar with cat-care, so slowly switching all my cats to that vet. Its been quite a hassle to find good vets in this little rural area!

The kitten series are OK and rabies but I don't do anything else.
Have you heard about titers?

Originally Posted by nekkiddoglady

Tabbi has feline herpes as well, and the past 2 years I noticed she gets a break out about January.. the first time it happened I wasnt sure what was going on, last year I noticed it happened right after she got vaccinated. Im not really sure if its weather related, or related to the vaccines. She does recover well with the l-lysine fortunantly.

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The herpes flare up could also be from the vet visit stress. One test may be to get her check up then but skip the vaccinations for a couple months if you still choose to have her vaccinated. If it's the vaccination she'll likely flare up after them no matter what time they're given.

yes, I've heard of titers. Not many vets seem to offer it tho, and the few that do are very expensive.

I've been fortunate so far, to have cats that do not get side effects from the vaccinations. I keep them all updated because I've always felt that, god forbid an accident would happen to cause one to get outside for any length of time, at least they would be vaccinated.

Editing here to say I would be worried for them to be outside because of losing them for good, but also because of the stray cat problem around here, and the fact that the very first stray I helped in this neighborhood and would have kept--tested positive for feline leukemia (Lucky Lou, whom I mentioned in my introduction post). I just feel better knowing they are vaccinated, just in case.

I'm a huge worry wort about them sneaking out, and I constantly do head counts and know exactly where they are when I'm "open for business", because I have many visitors due to my job. Luckily most people know I have cats and a dog, and know to be careful when coming in and out.

However, I would definitely rethink this if I had cats who didn't do well with the vaccinations.

This year I gave a 3yr rabies to Bugsy and Lucky, and the 3-in-one shot on their annual. Bugsy got a VERY bad reaction, and had to take an anti-inflammatory shot, another one that I am not sure what it was and a pain shot all to counter interact the side-effects of the vaccine. Since he is three, the plan now is to not vaccinate him at all, and when he is 5 years old run a Titer test to see if he has enough antibodies; if he has, he is set for life... The vet will then just send that to the city and they accept that instead of yearly shots. Since there isthis option, I am considering giving Hope the 3yr shot next year and doing the titer test three years later as well...

As far as the 3 or 4in one, my vet said there is really no need for it at all since they are inside only, but I am considering doing the distemper regardless as that is a very frightening disease... One thing is for Sure - Bugsy for now on only takes Purevax vaccines... He never had a reaction to them before, this was the very first time he had a vaccine reaction, and it was very scary.

No rabies here, my 'normal' cats (non breeding/show cats) don't get anything after the two kitten vax and a one year old booster, no further shots after that just yearly checkups.

I will never vaccinate with anything higher than 3 in 1, would never do 4 or 5 in 1 shots.

Originally Posted by nekkiddoglady

Tabbi has feline herpes as well, and the past 2 years I noticed she gets a break out about January.. the first time it happened I wasnt sure what was going on, last year I noticed it happened right after she got vaccinated. Im not really sure if its weather related, or related to the vaccines. She does recover well with the l-lysine fortunantly.

I'm leaning towards NOT vaccinating my adult cats. (other than the required rabies).. everyone is indoors only, and I would think that having recieved several vaccines, they'd have an immunity.

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That's exactly what would happen with Hannah! The combination of the stress of going to the vet plus whatever is in the shot would cause a massive upper respiratory infection that would take 4-6 weeks to totally kick. I finally connected the dots and she's not gotten another of the FCVRP shots since. Our new vet said that if we ever wanted to vaccinate her against the other things in the shot, she'd be happy to order the individual vacs, we just had to give them time to get them ordered.

I have not re-vaccinated any of the adult cats for years....I go back and forth as to whether I should or not. Right now I'm leaning toward not. They do get their kitten series, or if I get the cat as an adult, the core vaccines at the initial vet visit, when we test for FeLV/FIV and make the appointment for spay/neuter (if necessary).

I find that cats have a lot more chronic health issues when vaccinated more often. My first cats were vaccinated annually for everything until 8 years old (military vets ), but when my dad retired we slacked on the vaccines. All of their chronic health issues disappeared by the time they were 13 (until CRF was diagnosed when they were 17), and they both made it to 21 years old (one is still with us, the other just died last month). I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have made it so long if they had gotten more vaccines.

Although Ku Ku's been strictly indoor, she used to get an annual rabies shot when we were living in FL as that was required by the local law.
I know it sounds strange but cats also need to be registered in the county I was living in.
Rabies shot certification is required to get a county registration tag(sounds like motor vehicle but this is for pet animals)...so...Ku Ku was getting the rabies shot every year.

Ever since we moved to Hawaii - the only state in the US with no rabies - rabies shot is deleted from the list. Only vaccines she needs to get is now FVRCP but my current vet told me it's not even necessary unless she needs to be at a boarding, due to the fact that Ku Ku is an indoor cat with no other cats or pets in the household.

My first cat (totally indoors) got all the shots the vet recommended annually--and she got sick each time for about 48 hrs after the shots. I repeatedly asked the vet if we could eliminate any and was advised not to do so (I also didn't want to spread out the shots because every vet visit was so stressful for her). When I moved (when she was about 7) and started with my current vet, I asked again, and he told me that since she never went out nor did I allow other animals in the house, she only needed the rabies (required by law here).

When she was 17 and declining, I asked him if we could omit the rabies shot, and he explained that it's relatively easy for a rabid mouse or bat to get into the house, and it would be a terrible way for her to die. That made sense to me.

I adopted my current boy from a shelter when he was 4. He is totally indoors now and only get the rabies shots.

Oscar has herpes and got a URI from the FVRCP (or whatever the acronym is), so I will not be vaccinating him anymore. I got all the available vaccines for the kitten because we were planning to find him a new home, but he's staying, and I'm not sure I'll vaccinate him any more.

I'll only get them the rabies shot in the future if they need it in order to get some kind of surgery.

No. None of my cats are exposed to other animals, and I'm not typically around other animals either, so my vet told me there is no need to vaccinate them.

I do get their initial shots, but I don't do the yearly boosters.