Vet yearly coming up, what to do about shots?

Hi guys,

I'm deferring to your much wiser opinions here. Imogen's yearly check-up is coming up next week, and I was wondering what to ask the vet for as far as vaccinations. After last year's check-up and shot regimen, she developed a very large cyst on the injection site on her hip that didn't go away for about six months. I've read a few posts on here that say such things can eventually lead to cancerous growths with too many shots. Therefore...

Should I ask for a 3-year rabies vaccine, instead of a one-year, if they have it?
Since she's an indoor-only cat (with a few walks/leashed bathroom breaks outside), does she really need the FIV or feline leukemia vaccine or any of those other shots they recommend?

In short, what shots are necessary/best for her, and what can I skip?

Hope that made sense, and thanks!

FIV and FeLv vacs are non-core and really are not required, especially in a house cat. The FIV vac is next to useless and on FIV tests will create a false positive. Any cat that's had it and ends up in a shelter or rescue that kills FIV+ cats won't fair well... IMO no responsible vet should ever recommend the FIV vac. If your cat has already had an FIV vac she must be microchipped as this could save her life should she ever end up in a shelter.

FeLv really depends, it's up to you. I and many others don't do it because we have house cats or cats that aren't allowed to roam loose in contact with untested cats, and have had too many cats react to it. Do some research on it and discuss it with your vet.

Using the 3 year rabies vac depends on if it has actually been accepted in your area. Know whether your county sees it as a valid vac or not, as many only accept one year vacs per older written ordinances. The 3 year vac does have some risks associated with it, such as reacting to the vac itself, which is why some people prefer the one year Purevax (adjuvant free vac).
There's also the intranasal vacs, though those can bother some cats and again you have to talk to your vet about the risks, and even whether they have them.

Did you ever ask your vet about what type of vaccines (brands) they use? Sometimes knots/cysts/abscesses can form at the injection site do to a contaminated vac or because debris(with bacteria) was pushed into the injection site along with the needle. That happened to my Tomas and he had a knot from it for several weeks.

Since this is her first year (post kitten) of boosters, though, there are several that she should get. Then she'll be good for another 3 years. Ideally if you can separate the vacs to be given on different vet visits so she's not getting them all at once it will be better for her.

I would just like to add that there is a PureVax vaccine for FeLV too, since both FeLV and rabies vaccines have been linked to vaccine associated sarcoma, so you might wish to opt for ones not containing adjuvants. FVRCP vaccines do not contain them so they shouldn't cause inflammation at injection site. If you can find a practitioner that uses PureVax vaccines, maybe it would be a good idea to have your cat immunized against FeLV until she is 1.5-2 years old. PureVax Rabies is a 1 year vaccine but many vets feel that it is less dangerous than the 3 year vaccines.

Originally Posted by Iambic

...I've read a few posts on here that say such things can eventually lead to cancerous growths with too many shots...In short, what shots are necessary/best for her, and what can I skip?

Click to expand...

If, by "too many shots", you are talking about the yearly ritual of 'annual vaccinations', that seems to be part of what the observations are telling us, but not necessarily the whole story.

There are vaccines that are to be avoided at all times - including a cat/kitten's initial vaccinations - and these are the adjuvanted vaccines.

Here's a good overview from a competent Vaterinarian: http://www.acerlux.com/petscaarticle...necancers.html Pay particular attention to the issue of adjuvants and to the description of the new recombinant technology - strange_wings spoke about this as Purevax which is the trade name of the Merial company. Not all Veterinarians use these - if your Vet doesn't, you might consider finding one who does, if only for vaccinations.

Here's an article questioning the need for any vaccination after those initial vaccinations (keep in mind there may be a legal requirement around the rabies vax) http://www.holisticat.com/vaccinations.html

Nuts got 3 shots at his yearly. He got rabies(required by law, even if it wasn't I'd still do it), FVRCP vaccine. The other one was because he had been scratching a lot recently so antihistamine shot to relieve the itchies. So he got 2 vaccines.

Next year it'll be rabies and I'll talk to the vet about the other. He's FeLV+ so I'll trust what the vet says about the other shot and if it is needed or if we can wait. He's inside only and isn't into going out the door and the only cat he has had recent contact with is Blue and that was because I needed to bring him in for a minute to look at an abscess he had. They sniffed each other, Blue walked out the door(I opened it to let him out after he hopped out of my arms) and Nuts sniffed Half-tail's rear(she was close enough he could get his nose over there without stepping outside.) Everyone inside and out is FeLV+ so them coming into contact with each other is inconsequential, not to mention very rare.

Unless your cat goes outside unsupervised skip the FeLV vaccine, it isn't needed. Most of the ones I have were born with FeLV and I think my colony's 'patient zero'(Mama) got it from mating. I'll repeat this, skip the FeLV vaccine unless your cat goes outside unsupervised or lives with a positive cat. If she is inside only it is very unlikely she will ever come into contact with it and the risks outweigh the benefits. I watched one of my cats die from FeLV(and I have 1 inside and 5 outside that are all positive) so I know what the disease is capable of(and have watched it do it), and even I say that the vaccine isn't worth it unless the cat is known to be at risk of contracting it.

I also wouldn't touch the FIV vaccine with a 50 foot pole, but that's a different can of worms. Any vaccine that causes my cat to come back as (false) positive to a fatal disease isn't one I would ever be willing to give them. Let me put it this way, I wouldn't give the FIV vaccine if my cats lived with a FIV+ cat.

Taryn

Thank you all, this is exactly the sort of information I was looking for! Knowing the names of the vaccines to get and the ones to avoid is going to be a great help.

I think I'm just going to ask for the rabies 1-year (required by county) and the FVRCP. I don't have last year's receipt with me at the moment; I'll look it up when I get home from work and see what all she got last year (when I was less educated than I am now ) I think I remember telling the vet last year to skip the FIV and FeLV, as we both decided they weren't necessary, so I hope that's the case.

Anyway, I'm about to give them a call now and make sure they have non-adjuvant vaccines available, or can recommend someone who does. Unfortunately, I live pretty much in the boonies, and I'm already driving 30 minutes away to a vet that's actually nice (unlike the one here in town!), so I'd rather not have to change, if possible.

But again, thank you all!