Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you all vaccinate your cats for feline AIDS and leukemia. My cat has just tested negative but the vet wants to vaccinate her. She is 14mo old and does go outside with me for a little while each day in the yard. The vet says that if she goes outside at all, she should be vaccinated. Thank you.

Hi, I vaccinate all my cats even though they are totally indoors. Have always vaccinated my animals. You will receive various replies on this but I can tell you that after I lost a cat to leukemia (He probably already had it when he showed up), I would never want to risk that again. Luckily, all our others had been vaccinated and didn't get it. The modifications we have made is that we space the vaccinations out, ten days apart, since one of these cats had a bad reaction to all being given in one day. That has worked extremely well and they don't even seem to know they have had a shot nor has there been a problem. The vet knows how important it is to us to feel they are getting the best care. Also, we requested that our vet get the Purevax rabies vaccine since it has fewer things added to it. Katc

I stopped vaccinating my cats for Leukemia 2 years ago. I only give my gang FVRCP vaccinations now and also rabies because it is required by law. They are totally indoors. And even though I do bring in some foster cats from time to time, I don't allow them to intermingle. I am just too concerned about vaccine sarcoma and they get enough with the Rabies and FVRCP. I also stagger the vaccines. Rabies is every 3 years and the other is every other year. From what I have read, the FIV vaccine is not all that effective and once given, the cat will test positive. That makes me wonder how many vaccinated cats are taken into shelters or found and brought to vets and put down because they test postive for FIV. This is just how I handle the vaccine dilemna. Everyone has to make their own decisions based on their individual cats and situations.
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Dottie
Proudly owned by The Catnip Crew...Munchkin,Casey,Maddie,Harley,Meadow,Ashley,Nicky and Mushka

A cat I had from when I was 5 years old (slept in my bed and was patiently dressed in doll clothes..hehe) died a long and painful death from vaccine sarcoma. We waited too long to put him to sleep because one day he would be doing well and the next day badly.
Anyway, to make a sad story short- I'm also very glad I got my new cat vaccinated after talking with several vets because now I have two newborn orphan kittens that were found outside. Who knows what they could be carriers of. I guess it depends on each cat and what their habits and their owner's practices are (like keeping cats indoors or supervised outdoor, etc.) Leukemia is awful as well as sarcoma. It's a dilemma for me since I've seen my pets die from both.
-Laura