Vaccines have made my cat poorly :(

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My little cat had her vaccines and was chipped at 9.30 this morning. I brought her home from the get and she went straight under the bed and hasn't come out. I've never known her to miss her dinner before, I'm so worried about her. Is it normal for them to make her a bit unwell?

Sorry, vet obviously.

It's not uncommon for them to feel a little off colour after their (especially) first vaccine. And a chip as well. She won't be full of loving at the moment.

I'd leave it a little longer before you worry though - it's only 12 hours in and she could be fine by the morning. Just keep things as calm and quiet as you can and go about your normal business.

Yes my boy was exactly the same after the first set but not nearly as bad after the booster. He hid for about 36 hours and didn't eat or drink. I left water nearby and a litter tray upstairs. When he surfaced it was as if nothing had happened and he wolfed down a bowl of food and asked to go outside. It's worrying but I'm sure she'll be fine.

Thanks. I'll see what she's like in the morning I guess. I've put a litter tray and her food and water in the room she's hiding in so she can stay in there if she's feeling shy.

I'm so upset though! It's ridiculous, I feel really guilty.

Oh cross post thanks wax, hopefully she'll perk up.

I've done some googling and now I'm really scared I shouldn't have had them at all. My poor cat.

Never google loosely.

You needed to have them done and she needed both them and a microchip. (I had a cat with full cat flu when I was much younger and it's really not nice at all - and the others are as bad.)

I hope so. I know I'm being a bit stupid she just had such a shitty start to life and she only really trusts me and now I feel like I've hurt her. She's always in the same room as me like a little shadow and now she's all lonely upstairs.

Sorry I think I'm a bit hormonal and over reacting.

You did the right thing. You're her mummy now and sometimes you have to do things that you know are in their best interests even though it hurts them initially. They can't understand it and so feel scared. But cats have short memories and in a few days she'll be back to normal. Don't be hard on yourself, you're obviously a very caring person.

Poor wee lass. From my own experience, they love a calm and ordered life so the best thing to reassure her is for you to just go about things as normal and let her come round. (No keeping going to the room where she's under the bed and looking in to her/calling her.)

Has she still to be spayed yet?

No she's been spayed so she's all set now at least. I'll leave her alone and check her in the morning. Thanks for the advice, hopefully she'll eat something overnight.

Let us know how she gets on.

Will do! I'm hoping I'll hear her eating later. I wish you could explain stuff to them, poor little thing just thinks I've decided to hurt her.

Ok no improvement really. She used her litter tray at about midnight and I heard her do so so I went and cleaned if. Then she walked halfway down the corridor between the room she was in and my bedroom. So I thought that was a really good sign and I stroked her where she sat for a bit and then left her and this morning she was in the exact same place! No food eaten I assume no water drunk.

I've lifted her into her bed she's listless and silent. I'm sitting in the corner of the room because I'm assuming her stagger halfway down the hall last night was for company but I don't know if I should touch her much, if she feels horrible. I've tried giving her her favourite foods (tuna, crave Chicken the jelly from a pouch of food) she just turns her head away. So I'm sitting in the corner of the room sobbing she's lying in a hump shape exactly where I put her down and I don't really know what to do. Vet is closed today. Any advice?

A bit worrying for you. Do you know what the vaccine was ? (It should be on her card which the vet would likely give you.) Some vaccines are worse for this than others.

It was:

Feline Panleucopenia/ Infectious Enteritis
Feline Herpes Virus
Feline Calicivirus
Feline Chlammydophila
Feline Leukaemia

It seems such a lot at once. I didn't even plan to get them done really, I took her into be chipped. The vet said as she was going out she'd need them so I just trusted her. I should have researched or something.

All of those are pretty standard.

No - I meant what was the vaccine called. Was it Purevax for instance?

Have a read of \link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/1570645-9wk-old-kitten-vaccinated-today-and-now-hiding\this thread.}

Ah sorry. It says Pfizer feraxyn pentofel on the barcode.

Ok more probably ill advised googling and it seems like this is a particularly shitty one. I can't believe I just let her do it without checking what would be best. I stupidly assumed it was all pretty standard. It was £70 for the injection so (again stupidly) I thought it must be ok, not budget.

Sorry I'm super aware I'm coming off all neurotic and stupid. I'm honestly not I'm just really scared.

That's an adjuvanted vaccine as far as I can see so some reaction is not uncommon but it should only last about 24 hours. How is she right now?

(Her going for a pee in the middle of the middle of the night is not a bad sign.)

£70 for a vaccine by the way? Do you live in central London?

She's just ignored some tuna and moved out of her bed to hide under some furniture. It's getting on for 24 hours now.

I've called the emergency vet and they said to bring her in if no better by lunch time. My vet is shut on a Sunday. Not central london but greater london. I had to put it on a credit card. God knows what the emergency vet will cost me plus I don't have a car so I'll have to get a cab there and back and she's so frightened of vets so it'll make everything worse. I absolutely don't mind paying I'm just terrified they'll poke her about a bit, say to keep watching her and I'll have out her through some extra torture for no reason.

I just feel like I've done everything wrong. Now she's hiding I can't offer her more food and she'll be impossible to get out to take to the vet if I have to. The poor poor thing.

Thank you very much for responding by the way, I'm going mad here. I'm six months pregnant so I think the hormones aren't helping.

I think that's right - taking her to the OOH vet if no improvement by lunchtime. There's only a very small chance of an adverse reaction but it's not impossible.

There's also the psychological factor to take in to account. You said she had had a rough ride before she came to you? Maybe that's weighing on her mind - cat's psyches can be a fearsome and almost unknowable thing: my own old boy hid for many weeks when my Mom died and he came to me. Nothing wrong with him at all but he was miserable as sin until he re-bonded.

You did absolutely the right thing by the way in getting her vaccinated. It's not always possible to judge how an individual human or animal will react to a vaccine but many of us on this board will have seen the effects of the diseases in question and it's heartbreaking to watch a cat suffering with one of them.

Best of luck and let us know how things go. (There will likely be someone around on the board most of the day if you want to yell or something.)

Mines had this, it went on for 2-3 days. You've got to vaccinate them though, if she got a preventable disease and died you'd always regret not vaccinating.

After frightening the life out of us he woke up better one morning like nothing had happened.

By then I'd spent an extra £80 in vet fees to check he wasn't dying & he'd had an anti inflammatory injection.

The tiredness is often just the immune system busy making antibodies.

I'm having a Hep B vaccine this year & it'll make me feel ill too.

Oh - and start thinking about insurance when she's all better. I can't insure Seniorboy and my credit card was threatening to leave home after last month's vet attendance. (And he's a housecat so no possibility of RTAs or fights with other cats even.)