Cats - annual injections (merged threads)

in_my_wellies

My cats don't come into contact with other cats and have never been vaccinated. A cat rescue friend of mine said it is not necessary and can indeed be harmful. It's a market place out there. A drug company did not pay her £2400 in compensation for nothing. Beware if you cat develops a runny eye shortly after vaccintion. It should be isolated quickly and possibly for ever.

However, they should always be wormed regularly, especially if there are children about.

Edinburghlass_2

There is no need to worm a cat if its an indoor cat and not eating animals/birds it has caught or has exposure to fleas.

in_my_wellies

Edinburghlass wrote:

There is no need to worm a cat if its an indoor cat and not eating animals/birds it has caught or has exposure to fleas.

Yes, quite right, I should have made that clear. My cats do go outside when I'm about, but not far, the lazy lot! We live over a mile from neighbours and they don't go that far but they do get the occasional rodent.

sloughflint

I can't help disagreeing with a lot of these posts. I'm all for moneysaving big style but not with vaccinations. I'm not a gambler.
Who knows whether all these good news posts above are just from luck or due to many cats in the vicinity having been vaccinated.
I know how terrible the leukaemia and flu is. I just can't take the risk. We are not talking a huge expense per cat when evened out over the year.

sloughflint

to add on: I agree there is no point if they are true indoor cats

nickyhutch

I agree with sloughflint. I'm all for saving money but not immunising cats who go out and mix with other cats is irresponsible. If you can't/wont find the money for the jabs, then don't have cats. What next? "I don't feed my cats. I send them out to catch their own food, after all they're wild animals really, aren't they"?

SHould we say "oooh there's not really much measles about these days, I wont get my kids immunised"? No, you wouldn't say that, because it's free. If cat jabs were free, you'd be there every 12 months on the dot.

Nile

Members will post their opinions here but please seek veterinary advice about worming or vaccinating your pet.;)

Regards

Nile

absfabs

I don't know what's right or wrong here. A vet years ago suggested to stretch the vaccination periods for feline flu and enteritis up to 18 months, but keep the feline leukaemia jabs up regularly.

Haven't been that organised, so have stretched the intervals for all, roughly 18months. While current vets frown a bit, they have not insisted on repeating full course.

My thought is humans don't need annual jabs for anything other than flu, and that's because the virus mutates and they give you different viral ingredients each season. With other vaccines there is some immune memory, that has been established for human immunisations.

It seems to me - and I could be wrong! - there is no vested interest for the pharma industry to research/evaluate this for animals.

Avoriaz

sloughflint wrote:

I can't help disagreeing with a lot of these posts. ..
I know how terrible the leukaemia and flu is. I just can't take the risk. We are not talking a huge expense per cat when evened out over the year.

There is no real right and wrong here. It is down to personal choice and circumstances.

We are aware of the risks of not vaccinating our cats but we balance that against the costs of the treatment, the distress the cats experience visiting the vet and the risk of a bad reaction to the vaccinations.

None of our neighbour’s cats are regularly vaccinated either. None have caught flu or leukaemia in the 22 years that we have lived here.

Avoriaz

nickyhutch wrote:

I agree with sloughflint. I'm all for saving money but not immunising cats who go out and mix with other cats is irresponsible. If you can't/wont find the money for the jabs, then don't have cats. What next? "I don't feed my cats. I send them out to catch their own food, after all they're wild animals really, aren't they"?....If cat jabs were free, you'd be there every 12 months on the dot.

You are being unfair. It is not just down to money. As I posted above we balance the cost against the risks and the distress to the cats.

Ours are now 14 and recently one started drinking more than usual, a possible early sign of diabetes or kidney problems. I took her to the vet and paid £130 for blood tests. Fortunately these were negative. She was horribly distressed by the experience and took quite a few days to return to normal.

Our cats are much loved friends and are very well fed and cared for. We will pay vet bills that we consider necessary. We just happen to believe that annual vaccinations are not necessary.