What does every one think to yearly vaccinations for indoor cats
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Yearly Vaccinations
- Thread starter Royalty
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I live in an apartment and Sombra is an indoor cat. She is supposed to be 4 years old and when I adopted her from a shelter 4 months ago she had already been vaccinated. I am supposed to renew the vaccinations in may 2019.
My angel Cucumella was never vaccinated and was never ill until she died at 16 years of age from a lung tumor. I'll be very interested in our our members' opinions.
My angel Cucumella was never vaccinated and was never ill until she died at 16 years of age from a lung tumor. I'll be very interested in our our members' opinions.
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The core vaccines for cats are rabies and FVRCP, according to the AAFP: https://www.catvets.com/public/PDFs/PracticeGuidelines/VaccinationGLS-summary.pdf
After initial vaccination against FVRCP, the AAFP recommends a booster a year later, followed by boosters every three years. For rabies, the AAFP states that the boosters can be given annually, or every three years.
After initial vaccination against FVRCP, the AAFP recommends a booster a year later, followed by boosters every three years. For rabies, the AAFP states that the boosters can be given annually, or every three years.
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My guess is that even if they're indoor only, they might still get out and contract something before they can return home. I'm just getting the first booster for FVRCP, and (knock on wood,) my kitten hasn't made it (back) outside since we rescued her. But, we are moving, and I'd hate for her to be unprotected in case she slips out in the hubbub.
I used to think vaccinations for cats were like humna vaccines: very safe and important to reduce chance of disease.
Turns out it's not as simple as that. Vaccines are important, especially rabies and distemper (aka panoleukemia, included in the FVRCP), but how frequently they should be administered is the question. For some reason, cats, unlike humans, can be prone to injection site sarcomas, so it might be safer to do a titer test before administering boosters.
It's a complicated subject that I'm still trying to understand myself. I've read through Dr. Pierson's article dozens of times, and that's where I start whenever I need info on the topic: Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating
Turns out it's not as simple as that. Vaccines are important, especially rabies and distemper (aka panoleukemia, included in the FVRCP), but how frequently they should be administered is the question. For some reason, cats, unlike humans, can be prone to injection site sarcomas, so it might be safer to do a titer test before administering boosters.
It's a complicated subject that I'm still trying to understand myself. I've read through Dr. Pierson's article dozens of times, and that's where I start whenever I need info on the topic: Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating
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Problems with vaccinations that are over done can take months or even years to show up (if they do), so it's hard to pin point them but my "vaccinated yearly to the calendar day" pets usually have not been as healthy or lived as long as those that I took the approach of "yearly is not happening anymore."
One of our dogs had a severe personality/temperament change within days after a rabies vaccine. The change was not good and a year later (maybe coincidence, but who knows?) his normally robust health took a massive dump....never was right after that.
My first dog was like that. Everyone said that's not possible, but even as first-time dog owners, we could see it. She would get super weird after a rabies vaccine, and it would last for months. Fortunately that vet approved of a 3-year schedule, and we didn't vaccinate her at all after she was 7, so she didn't have to get weird too often. She was a genetic wreck anyway, but yeah. I wouldn't consider it possible if I hadn't seen it. None of my other dogs have had that problem, thankfully.
Anyway, yeah, a 3-year schedule is fine, less often for indoor-only cats. The vaccines confer immunity for a good long time, although they haven't yet sorted out exactly how long.
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I'm glad we're not the only ones. It was so sad seeing this outgoing, confident, bright happy dog turn into this shyer, fearful thing that just didn't seem as happy because life was scary. I'd expect that in a pup going through some weird mental changes ("fear periods") but a 3 year old dog is an adult and should be stable (in temperament) at that age. We still trained (he LOVED to train) and did a few things now and again, but the training building isn't the same as real life work or a traial situation. Basically he was retired at an early age. Pissed me off as he had a lot of potential.
The guesswork now is most vaccines (don't quote me on rabies) is good for 7-9 years.
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Here is a helpful TCS article which discusses whether in-door only cats should get the rabies vaccine:
Do Indoor-only Cats Need Rabies Shots?
Do Indoor-only Cats Need Rabies Shots?
The only thing I'm sure on is to give both of my cats the rabies vaccine every 3 years, as there's been an uptick near where I live of bats carrying rabies and, while it's been many years, we used to get a bat in our house on occasion. As for anything else, ehh I haven't decided. Each of them had their full round of vaccines during kittenhood (Giz a bit later as he didn't get his distemper one until after a year old) but I suppose I'll just decide when we get there. I do know I don't want to do anything yearly. To me, that honestly just seems like such a small amount of time especially for something like a vaccine.
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I don’t do booster vaccinations. New research is coming out to show that vaccines last for up to 8 years in dogs’ systems.
Not saying that rabies vaccines are unnecessary, but I believe that there are lots of cases where cats are vaccinated unnecessarily.
I feel that this article preys too much on owners’ fear and misinterprets statistics.
Not saying that rabies vaccines are unnecessary, but I believe that there are lots of cases where cats are vaccinated unnecessarily.
My cats just get rabies and fvrcp distemper. Everything else not needed since they are indoor only
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Willowy, I am just super curious...why do you say your dog was a genetic wreck? Does that mean inbred?
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This is exactly what I was concerned about , I do not want go over vaccinate my cats especially as indoors in uk, I've always had indoor cats none of which have ever got out to contract anything, they have just had their yearly booster so I'm thinking to do it every three years each. Thankyou
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Depending on where you live, it may not even make sense to get an initial rabies vaccine. Rabies has a very minimal risk in many parts of the world. But in some States it is the law to get the vaccine. You just have to be aware of the risk and law in your area.
If it’s indoor only I wouldn’t do a leukaemia vaccine at all. I would just do the intitial 2 or 3 rounds of FVRCP when they are young.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #16
That's right none of my cats have ever had a leukaemia vaccination thanks AzazelloAzazello
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- #17
Azazel
