shots make cat tired/drowsy?

I was at the local animal shelter earlier and they had several beautiful cats but one in particular stood out to me. She was a long haired already spayed young/adult cat. The was sitting in her litter box(they had just been cleaned and several were sitting or playing in them) but she looked very....down. I tried to get her attention and she looked at me but would not come to me or get out of her litter box. The woman cleaning the cages said that she had just gotten her first round of shots and that all the cats acted like that after their shots. I had never heard of this before. She had also just come in to the shelter yesterday or the day before. Is it possible that the routine shots could make a cat drowsy or generally uninterested in being petted? I plan to go back tomorrow to see if she is any more active and I am considering maybe getting her but I would hate to bring a cat home who had something wrong with it. Do animals react to shots or is it something else? The woman said that they all acted like that after they get the shot(s) but I am unsure if that is possible or she just didn't want me to pass up the cat. Her eyes looked clear and there was no discharge as far as I could tell but she was uninterested in being petted at all. She did not cringe away from me or anything. She did blink rather slowly(or at least to me it looked slow) and I am not sure if that could be because she was drowsy or sick. I did not inspect her skin or anything. When I saw she was uninterested in sniffing my hand or being petted I left her alone. Any advise on this subject would be appreciated. It has been a while since I have seen a kitten get shots so am not sure if this is normal. Also, is it okay for her to be sitting in her litter box? The woman said that most of the cats were litter trained and she was one who was trained but I did find it odd that she sat in there. The only other thing in the cage was an empty bowl attached to the door and one layer of news paper between the cat and the steel cage. Perhaps that is why she was sitting in there?

HELLO again!!!! ... I am glad you are considering this kitty and again, sorry about the farm kittens - I read your update in the Feral forum earlier... ...

YES this is totally normal behavior after getting vaccinated :nod:. AND since this kitty just got to the shelter - she is probably depressed, scared, withdrawn and worried about her future. Sitting in the litter box is extremely typical.. Especially if there are no other hiding places. Poor sweetheart - I wish shelter's like that would offer a box or a bed for them to snuggle up in instead of the litter pan. This is very common - so don't worry about that. If the vaccine made her feel lousy compounded by being new to the shelter and that stressful environment- she might not be much better tomorrow - but go and see her again, I am sure she would appreciate someone loving on her. Best of luck and keep us posted

Thanks for clearing that up. I hope she is feeling better tomorrow. I wouldn't want to lay on cold steel so of course she wouldn't. Another thing that worries me is that none of the cats had any water available. I plan on talking to the shelter about this. I may have just come at a bad time and they had just emptied the bowls. I know cats can get dehydrated very easily and access to water is a must. I know the little girl has mats in her fur and that would cause her stress too
I hope she is feeling better. I know assessing an animal at the pound is not the best of ways to see an animals behavior. I may just bring her home. Even if she isn't right for adoption they do take volunteer foster homes. I bet just fixing her fur would make it a little better.

She was adopted by a feral rescue group. She was feeling better the next day, hissing and scratching. It took towels and two people to get her out of the cage and into a crate. One person got really deep scratches and was going to the doctor right after they got her loaded up. The group is hoping to tame her but if not then they will release her in a safe area after she has been fixed. They said they would let me know how she was doing. At least she is not still at the shelter(they put down ferals). I hope all goes well.

valentinekitten said:

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I agree that access to clean water is essential, but adult cats fed entirely on a wet diet drink very little in a temparate climate like the UK.  Their ancestors are believed to be the African Wildcat which lives in hot dry places and are very well adapted to need very little more water (if any) than that in their prey.  One of mine eats mostly dry food and he does drink - I have a water bowl in the living room and often see or hear him enjoying it.  My other cat so far as I know only eats wet food and raw chicken wings and I almost never see her drink.  I do suspect she takes an odd sneaky bit of dry food at night.