Hi All, Since the thread last week indicating a vaccine on the horizon for FIV, I have been dwelling on my own mixed feelings about vaccinations. I used to be one of those owners who showed up religiously once a year with my cats and if a vaccine was available, my cats got it. The nasal FIP vaccine (found, by most accounts, to be of little to no use) arrived on the scene and it got dripped into my cats noses, along with FeLV, combo vaccines, rabies, etc.
Then, several things happened within a relatively short period of time: A friends dog went blind within a day of having a lyme vaccine, began seizing and was dead (despite aggressive treatment) within a week, the apparent victim. of a severe vaccination reaction. This same friend decided to have a titre drawn on her horse when it was time for his 3 yr rabies shot (being understandably suspicious about vaccines); the titre came back indicating that the horse had 30 TIMES the immunity required by law. I took Tommy in for his FeLV round of shots after being neutered; the vet I was using at the time mentioned the new administration protocol and that he was giving the injection in the leg since the link between vaccination site sarcomas was becoming increasingly recognized and that if problems developed, the leg could be amputated! Hold the weddin'!! There is evidently a school of thought that believes that lympocystic plasmasitic gingivitis may be vaccine related. Or, perhaps related to additives in pet foods. I have one vet who has been practicing for 30 years and he has told me that prior to 15 years ago, this was almost never, ever seen. Today it has become almost commonplace. Here is a website some of you may find interesting (Pam, it includes a link to an excellent presentation by Dr. Julie Levy, who's work you've cited): http://www.thensome.com/vaccinations.htm I give all my cats the full series of shots (don't give FIP vaccine any longer) when they come to me; I don't know that they need them but in almost every case, I have no history of the animal. On the cats I have had since kittenhood, I do the same. For the outside cats (or cats that will be hospitalized (it is law in Connecticut) a rabies and a distemper booster are given. The outside cats also get FeLV boosters. There is the element of cost given the high numbers I have; but frankly, if I truly felt they needed it, I could purchase the vaccine and give it myself. My own BELIEF is that except under unusual circumstances (a fight with an unknown animal, for example) a cat doesn't need boosters throughout their lifetime; I believe the initial series is enough to give them as much immunity as any vaccine CAN give, and none are 100%. That being said, I'm STILL nervous about mixing Charlie (formerly FeLV+) with the others without re-vaccinating! There simply is not a lot of research to indicate what level of immunity these vaccines provide. Things just get more and more complex; I often feel that no matter how I handle this, I'm going to be wrong! Julie
