Greetings! I recently adopted a 3-month-old kitten named Willow. I am a first time kitty mama, so I'm really hoping you all can lend me your wisdom!
Willow was a feral kitty who had been living outside. When I first brought her home she had a URI, which was treated with antibiotics and cleared up very quickly. She was doing much better health-wise... Until I brought her in for her first round of required kitten vaccines. She immediately got sick again, and started having these sneezing and wheezing attacks. I panicked and rushed her to the vet, who explained to me that her symptoms are caused by feline herpes, and that the vaccine likely made her start sneezing again because her immune system was already weakened by the virus.
I have made a great effort to make her as comfortable as possible... Plenty of warm blankies, high-quality kitten food, lots of water, l-lysine supplements twice daily. She is still sneezing, but overall is still eating and drinking, playing, etc. Aside from the sneezing, she seems like a perfectly healthy kitten. Unfortunately, I still have to take her back for two more rounds of the required kitten vaccines. I expressed concerns to the vet over giving her more vaccinations when she is still sneezing. The vet told me "not to worry about it," of course, but naturally I am going to worry about it because she is my baby and I want to protect her.
Is it safe to vaccinate a kitten with feline herpes? Should I put off the next round of vaccines until she is no longer showing symptoms, or is it really "not a big deal," like the vet told me?
Any information you can share would be helpful! Thank you!
- Brigitte (and Willow!)
Willow was a feral kitty who had been living outside. When I first brought her home she had a URI, which was treated with antibiotics and cleared up very quickly. She was doing much better health-wise... Until I brought her in for her first round of required kitten vaccines. She immediately got sick again, and started having these sneezing and wheezing attacks. I panicked and rushed her to the vet, who explained to me that her symptoms are caused by feline herpes, and that the vaccine likely made her start sneezing again because her immune system was already weakened by the virus.
I have made a great effort to make her as comfortable as possible... Plenty of warm blankies, high-quality kitten food, lots of water, l-lysine supplements twice daily. She is still sneezing, but overall is still eating and drinking, playing, etc. Aside from the sneezing, she seems like a perfectly healthy kitten. Unfortunately, I still have to take her back for two more rounds of the required kitten vaccines. I expressed concerns to the vet over giving her more vaccinations when she is still sneezing. The vet told me "not to worry about it," of course, but naturally I am going to worry about it because she is my baby and I want to protect her.
Is it safe to vaccinate a kitten with feline herpes? Should I put off the next round of vaccines until she is no longer showing symptoms, or is it really "not a big deal," like the vet told me?
Any information you can share would be helpful! Thank you!
- Brigitte (and Willow!)
