Cats - annual injections (merged threads)

pokem02

I was given a tip by my vet - you don't have to go annually.

Instead, I now go every 13-14 months, as the booster lasts that long. If you leave it much longer than that, I'm told you'll have to start from scratch ( ) again.

As an aside, does anyone know the maximum length of time you can leave it between boosters? Not that I'm tight (much), but with 3 cats it costs £100 and that's 2/3 of a week's take home for me (I work in eduation, need I say more).

badmumof1

never given mine injections apart from when they were little and they just had their first lot.

my mums cat died of old age end of november at the grand old age of 21 and we lost one of ours aged almost 18 in january due to being put to sleep from a tumor.

Avoriaz

pokem02 wrote:

I was given a tip by my vet - you don't have to go annually..

I'll give you a better tip.

Get your kittens immunised and then only take them to the vet if and when they are ill.

Our two tabbies are 14 years old and haven’t had an injection for 13 years. They are very healthy.


edit, we never put them in a cattery as we have cat loving neighbours who look after them for us when we are away. If you do use a cattery, I think up to date vet certificates are usually required.

wigglygiggly

Ditto what was said above. I have a very healthy 15/16 year old cat which has never had an injection since he was a kitten. My dogs only get done once every two years, after there one year booster, as I don't believe in over immunisation (unless they have to go into kennels, where they have to be 'up to date')

cheepskate_2

ther was a bit in the show dog mags that i used to buy that they were looking into the effects on some dogs getting innoculations every year, and some were dying from it.(cant for the life of me remember much about it now.

We have always just got our dog done for the first year and then only if they are boarded while we are on hols, and all were healthy.

Busybody

We only had ours done when they were kittens I sometimes feel guilty.:o But I also saw an article once about not having to have them annualy. We don't have our kids done every year do we?;)

tanith

I have never had any of my cats immunised , they have all lived long and relatively healthy lives, only going to vet for accidents, having teeth looked after and the occasional illness. One was killed at 12 by a car the last one I lost was 20yrs and had an untreatable tumour and my current cat is a healthy 18yrs..... I have often seen articles that say a lot of the inoculations advocated by vets is unecessary... its a regular source of income for them....

EDIT: I have a friend in the US who has a housecat (does not go outside) and she is forever paying out for one jab or another at the vet... sometimes I just want to say to her ARE YOU DAFT OR WHAT!!!

oldandhappy

We recently had to decide whether to have there boosters done or not. I was concerned at the side effects and also the views that say it is also unnecessary. Catteries demand up to date immunisations so that is often a reason for many people. We do not intend to use any Catteries so that is not a consideration in our choice of not having them done. The Vets do encourage yearly jabs more and more these days and I am not sure whether it is a tad financially motivated or not.
We have had Cats for 50+years and it is only in the past 10 years that I can recall pressure to vaccinate our Pets. We where happy to go along with this expert advice until this past year actually and although there is some guilt in not having them done the overall feeling is we are doing the right thing by them. Mrs Happy

Februarycat

My cat is 17 and we don't take her for annual jabs now as last time was about 9 years ago and she got so worked up and frightened the vet did not do them as she also had to have a load of teeth out, but she healthy and doing well and I don't want to put her through the trip to the vets only if it was necessary.

Horasio

My cat really HATED the vets - she went extremely feral. She was normally pretty placid but got loud when she was provoked.

We took her to vets when she was ill but didn't get regular jags for her - I think she appreciated it:D

She died of old age in 1993

mina626

pokem02 wrote:

I was given a tip by my vet - you don't have to go annually.

Instead, I now go every 13-14 months, as the booster lasts that long. If you leave it much longer than that, I'm told you'll have to start from scratch ( ) again.

As an aside, does anyone know the maximum length of time you can leave it between boosters? Not that I'm tight (much), but with 3 cats it costs £100 and that's 2/3 of a week's take home for me (I work in eduation, need I say more).

My mother used to claim that boosters were entirely unnecessary and a waste of money, and maintained this stance for 6 years; then the (still young and healthy) cat caught feline leukaemia (which is fairly common) and a soon after died a horrible, drawn-out and ultimately distressing death

It's up to you obviously, but I'd say that if the cat goes outdoors a lot, then get the boosters done.