Rabies shot ?

If my cat is an indoor cat, does he need a rabies shot?  He is 5yrs old and has gotten them every year...but now I'm wondering if it is necessary. 

You can ask your vet to do a rabies antibody tritate; if sufficient levels exist, the vet may give you a letter indicating your cat should be exempt from any law requiring rabies shots. 

If your cat has an adverse reaction to a rabies shot or is medically compromised, you can ask your vet for the same type of letter.

The current protocol is: the cat gets his first shot with an expiration date of one year; subsequent rabies vaccinations are good for three years. So, I'm not sure why your cat is getting a rabies shot every year.

While your indoor cat is probably at less risk than an outdoor cat of contracting rabies, if a wild animal (like a bat) gets into your house and your cat is exposed to the saliva/bite, personally, I'd be slightly less freaked out if Ritz was current on her rabies vaccination.  Not may not be scientifically accurate, but emotionally it is

IMPORTANT UPDATE/CORRECTION:

It was brought to my attention that you live in Florida; apparently Florida does not allow evidence of rabies antibodies to substitute for vaccination/boosters.  Also, some manufacturers state their boosters are good for one year, some state three years (depends on the specific type--adjuvant, for example); regardless, based again on Florida law, you must follow the manufacturers recommendation regarding the intervals. 

I apologize for any confusion/mis-information this may have caused you.  As always, in this forum as well as any other forums/sites, follow your State requirements regarding vaccinations as well as your vet's recommendations. 

Thanks for the info...just called my vet....you were correct..in fl its mandated that they get a rabies shot every year.

cjc said:

...just called my vet....you were correct..in fl its mandated that they get a rabies shot every year.

Click to expand...

Hi cjc!

So, now you know how your Vet handles the state's regulations for rabies shots, BUT.......

You really still don't know all you need to know.

There are two forms of vaccines available for cats....this is true of every vaccine type (types are rabies, 'distemper', leukemia etc).

Note that I differentiated between forms and types.

Back to "forms".....one form of vaccines contains an additive which is called an adjuvant. An adjuvant is put in to cause a greater reaction from the cat's immune system - a sort of "you can't not notice this" kind of thing.

There's a huge problem with using these adjuvants in cats, because cat's are extra sensitive to injections in general. These adjuvants are known to cause an almost-always-fatal type of cancer at the injection site. This does not happen frequently, but it does happen often enough to be of great concern. These cancers, called vaccine site sarcomas, mostly emerge years after the vaccine was injected.

Back to "forms" again: The second form of vaccines contain no adjuvant. They provide the same level of protection and offer a much greater chance of NOT causing these vaccine site cancers.

Both forms are offered by Vets - it seems that many Vets are still using these adjuvanted vaccines, however. They are cheaper to purchase - and, perhaps that is the answer to the "why on earth would a Vet use them" question.

For rabies vaccine, there is only one product - by only one manufacturer - that is not adjuvanted. The manufacturer is Merial. The product name is PUREVAX.

How far we go to protect our cats is determined by each of us. If I were in your position, I would now be calling back and asking "who manufactures the rabies vaccine that your clinic uses?"...and then, to double-check, I'd ask "btw, what's the product/trade name?"

I recently posted more on all this in another thread here http://www.thecatsite.com/t/261131/vaccinating-indoor-cats#post_3372709 and more about ten posts after that.

Hope that helps.

I think that it is really important that cats, even indoor only, get vaccinated for rabies. I live in seattle and we have a rabies in our bat population. If a bat gets into the house, cats need protection! Check out this great article: http://seattlevetblog.com/2013/08/15/rabies-vaccina…-my-indoor-cat/ I think that the reason that many vets still use the 3 year adjuvanted rabies vaccine vs purevax is multi-fold...1st) the risk of rabies far outweighs the risk of sarcoma 2nd) although everyone on this forum is clearly a devoted cat owner, many cat owners are not good about bringing their cats to the vet EVERY year...there is a lot of data on this. Therefore, by providing a 3 yr vaccine, vets are increasing the number of "cat years" of protection for those who are not going to be compliant on bringing their pet in yearly. 3) new data makes it unclear what is truly causing these sarcomas at injection sites....it is no longer 100% accepted that the adjuvant is 100% to blame, rather there seems to be a strong genetic component that pre-determines what cats will be susceptible to these sarcomas, and it is possible that ANY needle stick could trigger a sarcoma in susceptible individuals.

I would really encourage you to read the vaccines info on www.catinfo.org. What Dr. Pierson writes about vaccines makes a lot of sense to me. I believe we over-vaccinate our pets without considering the risks. All vaccines carry risk, not just from sarcomas. Being informed of those risks and making the right decision for your situation is important. Research vaccinosis.