Does my inside only cat need vaccines? - Page 3

JustJules · ‎06-25-2013

I don't own a cat, but I have a dog and she found me as a stray. I have spent plenty on her getting the proper vaccinations and checkups and I love her. Where I live, rabies is a must, and it has to be filed with the city. I guess anyone can own a cat or dog or whatever pet, and not give it the proper shots..... but if you truly love and care for that furbaby, I would think you would at least try to give it the minimum amount of vaccinations required. It's just plain common sense.

Sabatini2 · ‎11-13-2010

Just an added note. I didn't use to have any feelings about vaccines one way or another, until I owned one particular cat who'd have a severe reaction after receiving a rabies shot. (I'd find him drooling under my bed.)

After this happened 3 times in a row, and he had to be rushed back to the vet,...my vet began to give him a medication before vaccinating in order to prevent a reaction. I felt as if I was purposefully poisoning him, & I'd had enough.

Sabatini2 · ‎11-13-2010

On 7/20/2014 betteb said:
On 7/20/2014 Sabatini2 said:
On 7/20/2014 betteb said:
On 7/20/2014 Sabatini2 said:
IMO, no, she/he doesn't. Even my vet feels that animals are over-vaccinated.

2 different Vet's in my city agree. Kitty is 15. Her paws have not touched the dirt in at least 10 years. She never makes any attempt to go out. She hasn't had any vaccinations in the last 8 years.

She was at the Vet yesterday for mild conjunctivitis(mild eye infection) and besides that, she was declared healthy and in very good shape for her age.

That's awesome! Enjoy your kitty!

Thanks Sabatini I think she's very special.

What a pretty calico kitty! She's lovely. ${#emotions_dlg.wub}$

betteb · ‎03-09-2010

Thanks Sabatini Smile

I found this little snippet from http://cats.about.com/od/vaccinationsforcats/a/Core-Vaccines-For-Cats.htm

http://cats.about.com/od/vaccinationsforcats/a/Core-Vaccines-For-Cats.htm

As always, your veterinarian knows your cat best, and should be your source of information. However, Some veterinarians advise that in certain situation, vaccines should be withheld or delayed:

Cats in Very Poor Health
Senior Cats
Cats With Compromised Immune Systems

As always, your veterinarian knows your cat best, and should be your source of advice.

It's God's job to judge the terrorists. It's our mission to arrange the meeting. U.S. Marines

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

Does my inside only cat need vaccines?

All of our feline family is from rescue of one type or another. One of our present ones we adopted from our vet. He gave him the feline leukemia shot and other shots that are standard with any kitten, even indoor ones.

Since our others were all brought in from outside of our home or previous town home, we had our vet decide what shots he felt they needed to stay safe as indoor only felines.

We have never had any of them vaccinated after the initial ones when they were kittens. None of our felines have had any disease, other than one, that could have been caused by not having them vaccinated. The only ones that died younger than 15 were ones that had some form of cancer, and I don't know of any vaccine that will prevent this type of cancer.

Almost all of ours live to be 18-20 years old and the only time they go outdoors they are inside a carrier inside our vehicle or in same carrier inside the vets office. Kidney disease as a feline ages is pretty common and several of ours we gave subcutaneous fluids to keep them hydrated, and more often as the disease worsened. We did this ourselves as it is much less expensive.

One of our felines died of feline leukemia and she had never been outdoors. We also adopted her from a different vet many years ago. This kitten was born in his home and it had never been outside prior to us adopting her. Our vet and our conclusion of the reason for this was the following.

She somehow tore an ACL(anterior cruciate ligament in a knee)and had to have surgery to repair it. After thinking back the vet checked his records and during or right after this surgery he had to give her a blood transfusion. Now this was many years before she got sick. He/we concluded that is the only way she could have contacted feline leukemia was through possibly tainted blood.

Further proof was after we found out the cause of her death, they did an autopsy for free for us because the vet was not 100% sure of the cause, none of our other felines contacted this from her. Our first fear upon finding out her cause of death was for our other 6 felines at that time. We had each one of them checked and got a sigh of relief when all of them were cleared for having this disease.

Oh, my answer to your question. No, we do not vaccinate our indoor only felines.

hckynut(john)

GCR18 · ‎07-03-2013

My boy is 17 and is an inside cat. He hasn't had any shots since we moved 8 1/2 years ago. He has hyperthyroidism. He sees the vet 2x a year for blood work and a checkup. The vet always says he's doing good.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

On 7/20/2014 Sabatini2 said:
On 7/20/2014 chrystaltree said:
My cat is an indoor cat. He's 17 years old now. His vet said he recommended the shots but if our cat never went out and never came into contact with any other animal, he really did not need the shots. That was fine for several years and then we wanted to take him to be groomed. He couldn't go anywhere for grooming......because he hadn't had his shots.

chrystal, when that happened to me, I went w/ a mobile groomer who didn't require the shots. Just an FYI.

Great idea. We didn't even think about that at the time, not sure why. But I was relating the story to a coworker a couple of years ago and her daughter just happened to be a vet tech. She pet sits and does grooming on the side. So, she keeps my Whisky nicely groomed. She's an angel. When he had an ear infection, she went to my house and gave him his ear drops while we were at work.

Clover29 · ‎03-09-2010

I've had three vets who all said there's no need to over-vaccinate indoor only cats.

But rabies is mandated by law in all the states where I've lived.

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

On 7/20/2014 Sabatini2 said:
IMO, no, she/he doesn't. Even my vet feels that animals are over-vaccinated.

I agree and so does my vet.

goodstuff · ‎03-09-2010

I would not give immunizations to an indoor-only cat with the exception of an annual rabies shot, which is required by law in most jurisdictions. Also, if one of your cats should ever bite anyone or get out of the house, things could be quite difficult if the cat had not had a rabies shot.