Automatic Litterbox Central

I was recently told by a friend that is a certified tech, that to vaccinate an indoor cat every year is OVER vaccinating them, and can be very harmful. It should be every two to three years for indoor cats. I had never heard this before. What do you think? Sage

My vet tells me that as long as they had their kitten shots, stay indoors, and don't come in contact with other animals, any further vaccination is a waste of time and money, and in some cases may be harmful.

Feline leukemia vaccination sometimes causes feline sarcoma - not a good thing.

Thanks Michael. I like your vet! lol I have to smile when I see your name with your cat's name. My married name is Duncan and I almost named my son Michael, but ended up choosing Micah. Thanks for the reply. Sage

Well I didn't vaccinate my 2 indoor cats for 2 years and both of them ended up coming down with the feline respiratory crud last November. After spending over $500 on vet visits, fluid boluses, medications, eye surgery on the one because his eye got so infected they had to debride it... I'm never going to miss getting the routine shots for them again.

MissGingerCat~ Who was heartsick with worry when her babies were so ill last fall...

Hi MissGingerCat....Please don't think I am baiting you. This really concerns me, as there are so many different opinions. Do your cats EVER go outdoors or was there another cat in your house at anytime? I am so sorry your babies were so sick. My son is in the veterinary field and when he lived at home, he would take his scrubs off as soon as he came in the door and shower before touching our animals. Please answer if you have the time. Sage

I've never had another cat in my home and the cat who who came down with the illness first hasn't been outside in years. The other cat goes outside 2-3 times a year on a leash with my direct supervision and hadn't been outside in at least 3 months before the first one got sick. (the second cat got sick a full week after the first one)

When I questioned my vet about how my cats got sick she told me that some of these things don't need direct contact that they are just in the air. I also hadn't had direct contact with any other cats ill or otherwise.

The only other thing I can think of was that one of the wandering cats in my neighborhood was sniffing at the front door(no screen) and my cats got sick that way. But there is no way to keep them from sniffing my door and no way to keep my cats away from the door.

I don't vaccinate my cats from feline leukemia. Just the combo of dystemper and the feline respiratory yearly and rabies every other year. In my opinion the small amount of money it costs to vaccinate them for these will put my mind at ease and will save me quite a bit in vet bills later.

MissGingerCat~ Who learned the hard way

I'm really sorry this happened to you. I think if there is any chance, even a small one, of contact with other animals, that basic vaccination might be a good thing.

My vet was careful to tell me that not vaccinating was only ok if I was absolutely sure my cats would have no contact with other animals - and they don't.

I know this is a political issue, in some ways, but personally, I don't believe that vaccinations are necessary for your animals after they've had the initial puppy/kitten shots and initial booster. This is especially so after we had a dog that became very ill after having been overvaccinated.

Fortunately, I've found a vet that believes the same way. He recommends the vaccines for the respiratory diseases every three years.. and notes it only reduces the severity of symptoms, not if they carry it or not. My own animals were vaccinated before I moved last time, three years ago, and I don't plan on vaccinating them again. The cats don't go outside. The dog will get his final boosters when they come due and probably bordetella relatively regularly because we're going to try agility, but other than that...

He maintains a good website about vaccines here: http://www.critteradvocacy.org/ (use the links on the side) while his practice webpage is here: http://www.critterfixer.com. Interesting stuff.

Jacobine wrote:I know this is a political issue, in some ways, but personally, I don't believe that vaccinations are necessary for your animals after they've had the initial puppy/kitten shots and initial booster. This is especially so after we had a dog that became very ill after having been overvaccinated.

Fortunately, I've found a vet that believes the same way. He recommends the vaccines for the respiratory diseases every three years.. and notes it only reduces the severity of symptoms, not if they carry it or not. My own animals were vaccinated before I moved last time, three years ago, and I don't plan on vaccinating them again. The cats don't go outside. The dog will get his final boosters when they come due and probably bordetella relatively regularly because we're going to try agility, but other than that...

He maintains a good website about vaccines here: http://www.critteradvocacy.org/ (use the links on the side) while his practice webpage is here: http://www.critterfixer.com. Interesting stuff.

Good website. Thanks for posting it. I know there's a lot of controversy about vaccines. Some vets are now of the opinion that yearly vaccines can cause chronic disease in our pets. Here's an interest study done on cats and how vaccines may work on renal disease.

http://www.geocities.com/~kremersark/acvim_3_2002.html

PARENTERAL ADMINISTRATION OF FVRCP VACCINES
INDUCES ANTIBODIES AGAINST FELINE RENAL TISSUES.

MR Lappin, WA Jensen, R Chandrashekar, and SD Kinney. From
the Department of Clinical Sciences (Lappin), Colorado State
University, Fort Collins, CO and the Heska Corporation, Fort Collins
CO (Jensen, Chandrashekar, and Kinney).

Chronic renal failure is a common cause of death in cats.
Lymphocytic/plasmacytic interstitial nephritis is common
histopathologically,
suggesting immune-mediated reactions may play a role. Feline
herpesvirus 1,
calicivirus, and panleukopenia virus for use in feline vaccines (FVRCP)
are
commonly grown in Crandall-Reese Feline Kidney (CRFK) cells. As a
consequence, commercially available FVRCP vaccines contain CRFK
proteins.
The objectives of this study were to determine whether cats inoculated
with
FVRCP vaccines develop antibodies against CRFK cell extracts and if so,
to
determine if these antibodies reacted with extracts of feline renal
tissue (FRT).

Fourteen age-matched, mixed-sex, unvaccinated kittens were divided
into seven
pairs. To each pair of kittens, one of the following was administered:
10µg of
CRFK protein SQ; 50µg of CRFK protein SQ; 50µg of CRFK protein plus an
aluminum adjuvant SQ; a FVRCP vaccine for intranasal administration, or
one of
three FVRCP vaccines for SQ administration. The concentration of CRFK
protein
used was comparable to the range detected in the vaccines. Kittens
receiving
CRFK proteins were inoculated every two to four weeks for a total of
eight times
during the study period and kittens receiving vaccines were inoculated
every three
weeks for three inoculations. Serum samples were collected prior to
inoculation
and six months later. ELISAs to detect feline antibodies that bind to
CRFK cell
extracts or FRT extracts were optimized. All sera were assayed in both
ELISAs
and absorbance values calculated. An individual cat was considered
positive for
antibodies against either CRFK cell extracts or FRT extracts if the mean
absorbance value of duplicate post-inoculation wells was greater than
the mean
plus three standard deviations of the 14 pre-inoculation sample
absorbance values.

None of the cats was positive for antibodies against CRFK or FRT
extracts prior
to inoculation. All six kittens inoculated with CRFK proteins were
positive for
anti-CRFK antibodies in the post-inoculation sample; five of these six
kittens were
positive for anti-FRT antibodies. Neither cat inoculated with the
intranasal FVRCP
vaccine was positive for anti-CRFK or anti-FRT antibodies
post-inoculation. Of
the cats inoculated with FVRCP vaccines SQ, five of six and four of six
were
positive for anti-CRFK antibodies or anti-FRT antibodies in the
post-inoculation
sample, respectively.

Administration of FVRCP vaccines SQ to cats can induce antibody
responses to
CRFK proteins and feline renal tissues. Further research will be needed
to define
the role of these autoantibodies in the development of chronic renal
failure in cats."