is this normal?

Hello,

I am getting my first ragdoll on the 29th March and I am so excited. His name is Huggy and you can see his photo in my signature.

Anyway, what I wanted to ask is, is it normal for the breeders not to vacinate against Leukemia?!

When I spoke to her she said he was going to be fully vaccinated and then I visted her web site recently and found they had added this statement:

Kittens are registered with the GCCF and are vaccinated for Flu and Enteritis. Leukemia vaccination can be arranged at an extra cost, although this is not required for indoor cats.

Myself I think that it is strange not to vaccinate against Leukemia as I have read some information on it and even though ragdolls are indoor cats doesn't mean they can't get it.

So I just wondered if this was normal? That the breeder doesn't vaccinate the kitten against this before letting them go to there new homes.

We are still going to get him and it wont change our mind but we are going to book an appointment with the vet asap and get him checked over to make sure he is all ok and get him protected against leaukemia.

Its werid because I assumed by saying he would be fully vaccinated that it would include this too. And especially with them charging £400. I know for a fact that all the injections plus the one I mentioned would be covered in that plus some left over.

Anyway, i look forward to hearing what you think and if any of you have had this problem too.

Eva

My breeder told me that she does not give this vaccination due to the risk of cancer (but see below). Most breeders will insist that you keep the cat indoors, and you should anyway, so if you keep the cat inside absolutely 100% of the time and don't have any infected cats living with you, I wouldn't see that it's absolutely necessary. Mika doesn't go out and doesn't try to, so I'm not sure we'll be too worried about it.

By the way, I've recently read an article about kitty pricing. Since most breeders of champion bloodlines don't produce very many kitties a year, they lose money like mad between food, supplies, and showing the cats that give them their "champion" pedigree. They do it for the love and preservation of the breed, so I wouldn't put too much thought into "what you're getting" for the price.

A quote from pethealthcare.net:
"In the last 10 years, several million doses of leukemia vaccine have been given without any adverse side-effects. However, a form of cancer that will arise at the injection site has been found in a small subset of cats (estimated at between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 100,000) that have received leukemia vaccine. This tumor is called a fibrosarcoma, or tumor of the connective tissue. In many cats, it is not possible to remove the tumor with surgery. However, in most cats, the risk of contracting a feline leukemia virus disease and dying of it is considered far greater than for development of vaccine-related tumors."

I wouldn't let my ragdoll kitty out, its just I have 2 other kittys that do go outside so even though there sounds like there is some risk its probably a risk worth taking.

Thank you for your reply

Eva :-)

oh, LOL, I went in and redid my message (didn't see you online). Took out most of the part about going outside since I figured as much. Also added a little tidbit just on behalf of the breeder.

hehehe, funny we both adjusted/replied at the same time. I am not to worried about the price to be honest as he'll be well worth it. I was just a little confussed why that vaccination wasn't included if you know what I mean.

Thanks for your advice, it has helped lots.

Eva :-)

I have a Raggie Kitten and mine wasn't vaccinated for Feline Leuk. But the Breeders were. So I didn't worry about it, How ever I did have my kitten tested just incase.

Lisa

Yes, it's normal. The breeder of my persian cat didn't vaccinate against Felv because unless the cat is exposed to Felv positive cat, there is no need to vaccinate against it.
If you cat doesn't go outside and all your cats are Felv negative, there is no need to vaccinate against Felv. I personally wouldn't vaccinate against Felv, since my cats are indoor only. There is no need to pump un-needed vaccines into a cat.

Thank you nfor the advice. I think I'll probably go and speak to the vet and then make my descion. And I too don't want to pump more drugs into the than whats needs to be done.

Eva x