Your Pet Guide

Being a cat owner carries certain responsibilities other than making sure your pet is well fed and has a warm place to sleep. As well as these basic essentials, the health of your cat and protecting them from various feline diseases should also be high on your priority list as a cat owner.

Cat Vaccinations work exactly the same way as vaccinations for humans do. They help to boost the cat’s immune system by producing antibodies for various different diseases that can then fight off attacks from any potentially fatal illness that they may come into contact in the future.

The vaccine also prevents the cat from becoming a carrier of these diseases and in doing so is also providing protecting for other cats in the neighbourhood.

Kittens receive their first natural defences from illness via their mothers milk, which will protect them for the first seven to ten weeks of their life, However after this time these first defences become less effective and this is when some vaccinations should be given for the first time. Usually the first vaccinations are administered in two separate doses one around 9 weeks old the second at around 12 weeks old.

During this time and for several weeks afterwards, it is recommended that kittens be kept away from strange cats to enable the vaccines to take effect fully. Some vaccines require that a booster injection be given every year, however individual vets will decide if and when these are required.

There are many different kinds of vaccines available for your cat that can protect them from many different types of serious illness. Which ones are administered will largely depend on where you live in the world i.e. some countries are still prone to rabies where others are not, whether or not your cat will be an indoor or outdoor cat and your Vets recommendations for your particular cat. The most common vaccines given are to protect against:

Cat Flu – this can be quite a nasty illness and in severe cases can be fatal or cause disabilities such as blindness.

Feline Infectious Enteritis (FIE) – this is a rather nasty infection in the cat’s guts, which leads to severe diarrhoea and can also be fatal.

Feline Leukaemia virus (FeLV) – this is a fatal illness affecting the blood cells.

Feline Chlamydophilosis – this causes conjunctivitis in cat’s eyes and is often prescribed for cats that live with lots of other cats.

As with all vaccinations there are sometimes some small ill effects after the vaccination has been administered and cat owners should be aware of any changes in the cats behaviour and keep an eye open for any illness in their pet for a few days afterwards.

Often any ill effects are short lived and quite mild, such as slight tenderness in the injected area or a small swelling. However some cats also may develop flu like symptoms and tiredness for a few days afterwards. This is not serious and will pass after a few days.

In some very rare cases some cats develop a cancer at the injection site, this may occur weeks, months or even years after the injection. If any swelling remains or grows larger after a few days after the injection, it is recommended that the cat is returned for a check up by the Vet.

However cases of cancer due to a vaccine are rare and your cat is far more at risk from the diseases the vaccines protect them against, therefore it is widely agreed that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any adverse reactions which may occur.

Rabies is still prevalent in the United States and is passed on via bites. It attacks the brain and causes the animal to behave in an aggressive manner towards real and imaginary objects. Other symptoms of this distressing disease is: difficulty in swallowing, weakness and sometimes paralytic. It is always fatal to both animals and humans and so it is recommended that all pets in America be vaccinated against it from an early age and regular booster shots given.

Any unvaccinated cat that receives a bite from a rabid animal will have to be euthanized and their brain tissue will have to be examined for the disease. A rather unpleasant experience, which could be so easily avoided by vaccination.