Lekumia shot

Feline Leukemia (FeLV):

Feline leukemia, that results from the feline leukemia virus, is a complicated disease.  It typically attacks the bone marrow of the cat but cats vary in their response to the virus.  Some cats clear the virus from their system and become FeLV 'negative', some cats live for many years with the virus in their body but are not symptomatic, and some cats become ill and die within a few years of becoming infected.

FeLV is NOT highly contagious and its transmission requires prolonged contact with an infected cat.  Natural immunity is very strong in most cats by the age of 1 year.  AAFP guidelines suggest vaccinating all kittens but the vaccine is recommended in adults only if they will be in contact with a known FeLV positive cat - which would be a very rare situation.

I disagree with the recommendation to vaccinate all kittens. None of my own cats have ever been vaccinated for FeLV - not even as kittens - since they reside indoors and will not be in contact with a FeLV positive cat.

My suggestions:

Do not vaccinate kittens for FeLV unless your kitten is going to be outside (rarely a safe place to be for any kitten or cat) or is going to be housed with an FeLV positive kitten or cat. 

Do not vaccinate adult cats for FeLV - even if they have access to the outdoors - since natural immunity to this disease is very strong by the time the cat is ~1 year of age.  If an adult cat is going to be living with a FeLV positive cat, then vaccination should be considered.

If you do choose to vaccinate for FeLV, ONLY use the Meriel PureVax FeLV vaccine which is NON-adjuvanted.  All other FeLV vaccines are killed and contain adjuvants which should never be injected into any cat.

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