To wonder if cats (including outdoor ones) really need annual vaccinations every year?

[lookingforshoes]

Please note: I vaccinate my cat, and I am very happy to continue to vaccinate my cat. She is doted upon and I take far better care of her than I do myself tbh! So please don’t come after me.

That said, I am wondering, hypothetically, how necessary annual vaccinations really are for cats? Would they not build up a good level of immunity after the first few jabs and thereafter need a booster every few years?

I always do as my vet advises, but just thinking about it, it would be in the interests of veterinary pharmaceutical companies to recommend regular vaccination wouldn’t it, so long as it didn’t actually do any harm. But is there really any benefit?

I have a cat. She hasn't had vaccinations since 2019 as it was hard to get appointments during Covid and we stopped taking her. She is an outdoor cat but hates other cats and won't go near them (runs away). She's 16 this year. She still has flea and worm treatments.

Is FIV an airborne disease? I know it’s a requirement for cattery stays, but cats all have their own pens in catteries, don’t they? They don’t mix with cats from other households.

It's a bit like humans. If they are going to be locked away and never catch anything or spread anything... Then avoiding vaccinations is fine.

If you are going to inflict yourself or your pets on the general population, then vaccinations are the ethical choice.

I have indoor only cats so I vaccinated as kittens and when we moved them to Thailand, but otherwise I don't worry about it.

If they were to go outdoors I would be religious about it.

I'll also add, my vet follows this stance herself and recommends it.

Maybe we were just unlucky but we had a cat die of feline aids when I was younger. I was away with the school at the time but my parents said it was a pretty unpleasant thing to witness.

Vaccination protocols are based on evidence.

YABU to think you know better than the vet.

I don't vaccinate my outdoor cat, I flea treat at home. I rescued her from a friend at 1, and the only time she's been to the vets was to be spayed. She's 8 now, perfectly healthy

FIV is primarily transmitted by bites from affected cats. It can also less frequently be spread through sharing bowls or mutual grooming. If a cat is outdoors and therefore mingling with other cats, you need to protect them.

My 2 cats are indoor cats so after the initial kitten ones, they haven't had any further ones.

I've had them nearly 6 years now and they got fleas once. I suspect I'd brought them in from the garden. I did the flea treatment on them, and sprayed the house. And I'll be honest, I wasn't super thorough. I didn't move any furniture or anything like that. Just wafted it around really! Worked fine. So I don't regularly do flea treatments. Seems unnecessary.

I'd never put mine in a cattery anyway, they'd be absolutely distraught. I have 2 adult DC close by so it's rare that no one can look after them but the one time that did happen, I got a cat sitter.

We vaccinate our two cats every year to keep the insurance valid. It's been worthwhile. One cat had Calici virus and Toxoplasmosis in the same year (it would have come to over £4k for treatment if we hadn't kept to the insurance agreement terms. )
We also have a monthly direct debit to the vet for all routine jabs and flea treatments etc so we're not hit with a big annual bill. It also means we're not wrangling a heavy cat box and trying to pay.

So far? They won't be around much longer.

I used to go to Greece regularly and many of the street cats there have cat flu, it is heartbreaking to see. FHV in particular can cause horrible eye problems. So I will continue vaccinate my own outdoor cats against cat flu into older age.

There is no vaccine for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus).

I vaccinate yearly (my cats are 3 and 11) but I foster for a rescue and its essential that mine are because of that- new cats into rescue are kept separate to fosterer's pets for 2 weeks (and we are rigid on hand hygiene etc) before being allowed to mix (mine mostly avoid the interlopers anyway)- but it's important in our house.

If we didnt foster, I don't know. I suspect I'd do yearly boosters anyway.

Ha! Yes indeed 🙈

is that from a vaccine maufacturere?

tbf covid vaccines were a scam for the majority of the population

Extraordinary that this anti vax bullshit is spreading to animals too now who can't consent.

Vaccinate your cats for God's sake. FeLV, FIV and other viruses kill and others can be very unpleasant for cats and cause lifelong health issues. It's not a cash cow for vets as others have mentioned, it's based on evidence and it keeps your pets safe.

The survivors' bias examples listed on this thread are not proof that vaccinating cats is pointless. Those cats were just lucky enough not to contract something.

My cats get their vaccinations every year without fail, even though they haven’t been in a cattery for a good few years. But my question about catteries still stands - if FIV is transmitted through bites, sharing bowls or mutual grooming, why are catteries so stringent about it? Cats from different households don’t have the opportunity to do any of these things in catteries.

There is no vaccine for FIV in the UK.

Catteries usually require cat flu (calici and herpes vaccine) and feline panleucopaenia. Both spread through indirect routes (airborne and faeces) .

Panleucopaenia kills..quickly.
Cat flu is miserable and can cause life long illness.

Herd immunity is important, robust vaccination protocols have reduced the incidence of these diseases but they are still around...and will increase as vaccination rates fall.

Do you think cats would consent to a vaccine if you have them the choice? I don't think mine would.

My cats are indoor only so I don’t vaccinate and when I go away I get a cat sitter.
i actually saw a vet post on instagram yesterday where he said he doesn’t recommend vaccinating cats annually after the age of 9 due to increased risk of kidney disease. He didn’t mention however indoor vs outdoor.

We've never bothered, my mums never bothered with hers either. All our cats *touchwood, have lived to be over 17 years old.

One of my cats seems to be is really sensitive to everything/has bad luck. If it's too cold he becomes depressed, if its too hot he somehow sunburns his black ears, we've changed flea treatment 3 times because he gets allergies from it...

I feel like it would be more likely he would have a bad reaction to the vaccination than it provide any benefits!

I vaccinate mine for the insurance, and also dental treatment is covered provided he has a yearly check up so I just take him, he gets checked over and has the vaccine
I don’t worm him as he couldn’t catch a cold and barely goes out and I’m a bit lax with flea treatment

I have a lot of cats, some of them seniors, over 10 years old that have never been vaccinated. Some of them have never even been to the vets except to get the snip.
My oldest cat died a few months ago at 18 and he was always outdoors until he got too old for rambling around. He had kidney failure at the end. He had the very best life any cat could want.

I have two that have recovered from Panleukopenia, a boy who is 6 and a girl who is 3.
The boy had it about 4 years ago and never had any vaccinations. He has since been vaccinated.
The girl had her kitten ones. She came home from a week in the vets yesterday.

Since my boy had it we always do the kitten vaccinations just to give them some protection when they are little but we don’t continue annually.
If I could find a vet that didn’t charge the earth for home visits I would. It’s hard to round up older cats to do multiple vet trips and some of them get so distressed in the box and on the journey.

My vet advised me not to vaccinate the older ones as they will have built up good immunity.

Well, the experts say yes. I’m friends with a vet. They say yes, so yes it is!

i vaccinated my cats when they were young but now I don’t bother. One died last year at the age of 13 due to an unrelated illness and the other is still going strong at 15. Both outdoor cats.