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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider not vaccinating my cat

67 replies

MyCatProbablyHatesYou · 13/09/2019 09:52

I think I probably am BU but my cat HATES the vets. Last time I took him for his first booster (he's just turned two and is due his second) he went absolutely mental.

He attacked both me and the vet to the point where we were both actually bleeding in quite a few places and I thought we'd never get him back in the carrier and he'd have to live there.

When we got home he was distressed for a number of days afterwards.

He's such a lovely cat at home but just hates being taken in the carrier/car/into the waiting room etc...

I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem and whether you kept it up and how? I know he is going to flip the minute I get the carrier out again, I've no idea how I'm going to even get him in it.

Our other cat is absolutely fine, she will happily go in the carrier and doesn't really bother when she's at the vets either other than the odd meow but this one is an absolute monster!

OP posts:
WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles · 13/09/2019 11:23

Would it be a problem with an insurance claim if they weren't vaccinated?

MaudesMum · 13/09/2019 11:34

I have a cat that hates going to the vet, and reacts quite aggressively both to being put in the carrier and being taken out of carrier and examined at the vets - to the extent that her last examination was basically the vet looking at her from a distance, so I do sympathise BUT there will be occasions where you have to take yours - at some point in the future he may get ill or need particular vet-prescribed flea stuff. I've mastered a technique for getting her into the cat basket which involves upending the basket, sneaking up on her when she's asleep and basically dropping her into the top. It works 9 out of 10 times, but I have also resorted to cornering her with a broom and nudging her in that way... It feels awful, but she does seem to forget quite quickly!

makingmammaries · 13/09/2019 11:43

It used to be normal for pets, like children, to be vaccinated in infancy, and then mostly left alone. I’m not convinced of the need for booster shots for pets. (If vets sound convinced, it could be connected with that being a huge income stream). As regards cats in particular, injection sites can apparently form tumours. So I haven’t taken my cats to the vet specifically for boosters, and will consider getting the boosters as and when they see the vet for something else.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 13/09/2019 11:51

As a kid, one of our kittens got FeLV. He died horrendously. He lost weight, kept getting infections that started in his bladder and ended up with oozing pus from infected skin wounds, he had no energy, he had diarrhea all the time, he started having seizures, his lovely black coat went thin and mangled.

He died on the stairs, with the worst smell I have ever smelt in my life, before I could get anyone to take us to the vets. I was 10 and remember it vividly.

I would vaccinate. Seeing a beloved cat die because they hate the vets would feel awful. I'm not underestimating how bad it is getting him there, but it's not like being run over where you get no control really - you can reduce the chances of him catching something awful.

GlasshouseStoneThrower · 13/09/2019 11:53

If he's ever outside you really should vaccinate, but probably no need if he's an indoor cat (unless it invalidates your insurance - worth checking your policy).

sillysmiles · 13/09/2019 11:56

Cat Burritto is the way forward for you! Wrap up in a towel - like wrapping a burrito. Least stress for all involved.

Idratherhaveacupoftea · 13/09/2019 12:07

I've never vaccinated any of my cats.They've all lived long live, the last one was 21.

Original poster
MyCatProbablyHatesYou · 13/09/2019 12:08

Silly, I honestly think there's no way in hell he'd let me wrap him like a burrito! I'd lose an eye whilst trying!

OP posts:
EntirelyAnonymised · 13/09/2019 12:11

How do you get hold of good quality flea and worming products if you don’t visit your vet at least once a year? I use Advocate (anything else is useless, ime) and it can only be prescribed by a vet once the animal has been weighed and checked. I then get 12months supply. I have it done at his booster appt as my young cat gets v stressed by vet visits.

Mabelface · 13/09/2019 12:17

Advocate is available to buy online at a considerably cheaper price than the vets.

CassianAndor · 13/09/2019 12:24

OP, we have semi-feral cats who hate going to the vet. But it has to be done. We trap them in a room and swoop down on them with a towel. Vets are primed so they know what they're about with them. Back home we let them out in the garden where they glare at us until we give them some prawns.

Potentialmadcatlady · 13/09/2019 12:26

You can get a sedative from vet that you give him about an hour before taking him to the vet. It costs about £5 or so and is very useful in cases like this...it just chills them out long enough to get there and back without all the drama...

Windydaysuponus · 13/09/2019 12:29

My dcats are 7 and haven't had jabs since they were kittens.
They go out and don't use a cattery.

pigsDOfly · 13/09/2019 12:33

Most cats seems to be a bit unhappy about going to the vet/in the carry case. My cats would yell the whole way there and one of them would always poo in his case on the way home.

I moved several times while I had them - both cats lived to a good old age but are no longer alive - but it wasn't till I had a two and half hour drive with them to our new house when they were already getting old that I was worried.

My vet suggested the Feliway spray that Nai77 mentioned. I sprayed each corner of each box beforehand and it was amazing.

I combined it with having a Feliway plugin in the house for several weeks beforehand.

I was really worried about them getting stressed so one of my DDs came with me, and I did the journey at night so there was less likelihood of traffic jams.

We got them into the boxes without any trouble and there wasn't a peep out of them for the whole journey. As far as I know they slept most of the way and nobody pooed.

Certainly worth giving it a try for your cats OP. Sometimes it's vital to be able to get cats to the vet and not being able to get them into their carry cases could be a real problem in an emergency.

The attacking is another issue but one I suspect most vets had to deal with quite often with cats.

It's one thing for a vet to come to you to do jabs but I don't imagine they can come and carry out treatment in your home.

LuckyKitty13 · 13/09/2019 12:33

You could borrow a crush cage from the vets, get him in at home, then he doesn't need to come out for the jab at the vets? The name 'crush cage' is horrible, but the vet can press him against the side for a quick jab keeping everyone safe. I know this doesn't solve your problem of him getting in it in the first place at all. I agree massive towel over him at home, head and everything, scoop him up super quick, then towel and him into the box. Vet can even jab through the towel if needed, or carefully extract it at the surgery!

villainousbroodmare · 13/09/2019 12:33

I'm a vet. I rarely recommend house calls for cats because it tends not to go as well as clients think it will. The cat is generally appalled to encounter the vet in their own home. They may vanish entirely or have to be hauled out panicking from under the bed. Then examination facilities are not there: non-slip table at the right height, good light, all our equipment, drugs etc. Unless additional staff accompany the vet, the owner is put in the place of an experienced veterinary nurse attempting to restrain their own pet, which is not a great idea. After we're gone, the stress continues and remember that we are unlikely to be doing this for a relaxed cat anyway. I appreciate the issue but I think if at all possible the cat should be brought to the surgery. At least once they get home they realise that the unpleasant experience is over.

Cherrypies · 13/09/2019 12:34

Why dont babies -children need boosters?

leaserspottedmummybird · 13/09/2019 12:36

Yanbu. Personally I wouldn't because the vaccinations are expensive and cats do tend to disappear or move along to whoever feeds them the most.

EerieSilence · 13/09/2019 12:45

There's no excuse for not vaccinating the cat. Both of mine are raging, one always waits for the vet to come close with their fingers and she immediately goes for the hand with her claws.
Garden gloves and wrap the cat into a towel.
If your cat is outside, you must take care of the vaccinations.
My cattery won't accept cats which haven't been castrated and vaccinated, we don't need to bring the vaccination book anymore but that's only because she's known us for years and we can ask the vet to confirm. But an annual checkup and vaccination is a must, even though we know it will be a fight.

TheWickerWoman · 13/09/2019 12:46

My mum didn’t keep up to date with her two cats boosters and they both caught FeLV and died, it wasn’t pretty. I wouldn’t risk it.

Another poster mentioned getting a booster as and when rather than keeping upto date with them yearly, that doesn’t work either, if you miss a booster for a length of time then you have to start all over again with the inoculations , no vet would just ramdomly give your cat a booster now and again as it would be pointless.

Fluffsmum · 13/09/2019 12:48

We don't (they had their initial set and first booster). I've got several vet friends who are all quite divided on the matter. One school of thought is that not as much research is done in to animal vaccines and they actually last much longer than the suggested time frames, even without boosters,so the need for annual boosters is 'just in case' and probably not necessary. Most my friends feel this is the case. Those who don't are very 'meh' on the issue. Only one feels they are actually necessary but doesn't have the research to back it up and admits it is only her opinion due to it being the manufacturers schedule!

DobbyLovesSocks · 13/09/2019 12:50

@WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles you would need to check your policy. I think if there is a vaccine for an illness then you would not be covered if you chose to not get the vaccine. My 15 year old cat is not vaccinated and when she got an abscess, we think from a fight with another cat, after our excess the insurance covered all vet appointments and medicines.
Cats do suffer with motion sickness so possibly why they get traumatised by the trip to the vets plus they cannot be told what is going to happen so all they know if they have been stuffed in a box and put in a car, driven to a strange place and then examined etc - I think I would be scared/grumpy if that happened to me.

Soubriquet · 13/09/2019 12:53

I know quite a few people who give their dogs and cats initial vaccinations but don’t do the boosters

Original poster
MyCatProbablyHatesYou · 13/09/2019 12:58

How do you get hold of good quality flea and worming products if you don’t visit your vet at least once a year?

I go and pick it up monthly from the vet (we are on a plan) and administer it at home. That's a bloody job in itself. I still haven't managed to get him to take his worming tablet this month but will be trying that again soon. He doesn't miss a trick.

I can just about manage flea stuff whilst he's on my lap if I'm sneaky but as soon as he clocks on he runs away.

OP posts:
OwnerofanAngryCat · 13/09/2019 12:59

You can buy cat strait jackets online. You can even get little Gauntamino Bay style hoods.

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