boosters

Can you all enlighten me about booster shots? I have a 3-year-old inside cat. Every January we go to get her vaccinations... ie: distemper and rabies. This past January I changed vets, and a couple months after her vaccinations they sent me a postcard for her to get some booster shot. I don't remeber the name of it, but how come I've never had to get her a booster before now?? And is it even necessary??

Yikes, I bet they gave her the FELV vaccine. Usually if vaccines are a first round, they give boosters. Adult indoor cats only need the feline distemper every 3 years and they need rabies as required by State law. Here in CT they are issued for 3 years. Make sure and check your bill to see what they gave her. Dont let them bully you into thinking she needs more than she actually does.

Well Sandie, I don't have my bill with me here this morning here at work, but I called the vet to find out what she had. They thought it was her first round of shots (my husband took her that day and probably conveyed the wrong message), so that's why I got the postcard for boosters. But they also told me that the Annual Vaccinations include Distemper and Upper Respiratory Vaccinations, and rabies is once every other year.

They said the manufacturer suggests Distemper once a year because it wears off after that time.

Would you please let me know what exactly I should be getting injected into my cat when I go to the vet, like what the normal year-to-year shots she should expect.

Also, is it going to hurt her to have had more than the usual?? Thanks!

Okay, I am sure theres a thread here about the whole vaccine thing. I am too tired to search for it. You may do whatever your vet recomends as long as they dont tell you to do the FELV or the FIP. The AVMA has not come up with a decision yet on how often to give the distemper. The manufacturer sais the vaccine is good for 1 year. However, only a few of the upper respitorys in the feline 4 are good for one year..the rest are longer. I work for a vet, so theres lots of debate on the issue. The thing is...first if you have vaccinated every year for 3 to 4 years, it does not matter what the manufacturer sais, your cat has built up an immunity because if the previous years of vaccinating. This is why they say that indoor ONLY cats can be vaccinated every 2 to 3 years. The first reason being that they are not exposed to any other cats that would give then these viruses, second being that after so many years, they have a much higher immunity. As for the rabies, it sounds like you live in a 2 year state. So, it is your choice weather to do the feline distemper (which is all the upper resp) every year or every 2. Over vaccinating can actually supress the immune system. I would definatly not do it more than once a year. I hope this helps a little.

I'm not an expert on this, but there's the whole issue of vaccine-induced sarcoma in cats. That's another reason why they shouldn't be over vaccinated. When we kept our cats as indoors only, we decided to do the whole round of vaccines once in three years. That's what our vet recommended. He said that as they were not exposed to other cats and are mixed breed (supposed to have a stronger immune system), there's no need for more shots.

He was one of the rare vets that recommend only what they think is good for the pet, regardless of their own profits. Maybe that's why he was not too well off financially (like he spent hours everyday fixing strays and feral practically for free).

Now that they have access to the outdoors we need to rethink the whole thing. I think we'll vaccinate once every 1.5-2 years.

We bred persians for years and you can find a vet (and a solid following) that will support any position on any vaccination schedule. We always felt the kitten shots during the first four months and the one year booster to be essential to help that kitten build a strong immune system. After that, if your cat is 100% inside and does not come into contact with any cat that does go outside, there really is not much point to the additional vaccinations. All the results are not in on FELV, FIP, and Ringworm vaccines and I have heard wonderful things and horror stories on all of them, so we chose not to use them. The issue on vaccination-site induced sarcoma (cancerous tumors)is also still up in the air. Our rule of thumb after the first year is to vaccinate once every three years.