Julie, I agree that we need to rethink vaccines - less is better, I think, and different situations call for different protocols. The trouble is, it makes it so difficult if you are adopting out - what do you require that they get, and if you don't require leuk or other shots, what if they let the cat out later or get another one, or keep a friend's cat whose leuk status is unknown, etc. I think we should be cautious of any new vaccines, such as the FIV, although it may have some use for cats who are outdoors a lot. I don't use the FIP vaccine - everyone in the know has pretty much said it's only useful if the cat hasn't been exposed to coronavirus yet - and most have.
Not sure about gingivitis being shot related - those I have had who had gingivitis/stomatitis really badly have either had few or no shots. Cancers? Who knows - I think we just get our pets checked out more nowadays, when previously we would have figured the kidneys were gone and there wasn't much we could do. We may not be seeing more cancer, just diagnosing it more.
