Hi

It's been a while, hello!

I often hear people say 'oh I don't vaccinate my cats' and I wanted to get a view of what the majority of people who have outdoor cats on this forum (not including kitten vaccinations, I mean when they are a few years old)

Do you still give your cats their boosters every year?

Thanks
Vicky

Yes, (her first booster only so far but Ill be doing it yearly)
I know that if Cleo contracted something horrible or even fatal that I could have vaccinated her against but didnt bother, I would never forgive myself.
....just doesnt bare thinking about does it?

Even though my girl is only outdoors on a leash, she DOES sniff bugs and slugs (she eats flys, including the dirty black ones that hang out on poos) and she roots around under bushes where I cant see ... we also walk at night when foreign poops are often impossible to see against soil/mud that she walks in and sniffs about in.
Better safe than sorry is my philosophy on this ... coupled with my own personal habit of being very hard on myself ... I cant face the guilt Id have if I let Cleo catch something that I could of prevented.

Yes all mine are vaccinated yearly. I'm a little 'ugh' about it but I do show my cats do needs to be done for that.

BengalDaddy I feel the same way - it's the whole 'what if' scenario. I have been looking up online about the pros and cons and can't find many cons. My friend said she heard that it shortens the cat's life but I haven't found anything to back this up. There is the question and I do feel myself agreeing 'why do we vaccinate them every year when we humans only get vaccinated once in our lifetime against certain diseases BUT then my thinking is that we aren't that much at risk of getting clawed and bitten by other humans!

My boy cat is usually fine fighting wise but occasionally does get into nasty scrapes and I think about the clawing and biting and everything that comes with that risk wise, especially feline AIDS which there is no cure for as far as I know.

So really it's a risk isn't it? You are gambling on your cat never coming into contact with another cat with any sort of virus......

Lacemoat I know the feeling, my 'little girl' does not like the catbox so that's our biggest headache at present! We are trying to train her but although she will go in it any other time, she knows when she is going to the vet! When you say you feel a little 'ugh' do you mean that you are not 100% sure about the necessity of them?

Yes basically it is that. I've often heard that the initial plus booster can be enough to cover them for life. The Panleuk part is actually only recommended by the makers to be done every 3 years - its not required yearly as it lasts anything upto 7 years so they average it out.

I think cat flu is recommended yearly because of the different strains but again I don't even think its effective I had (my mom has her now) a Persian who was fully vaccinated and when she was 2 I got a rescue cat - bearing in mind she is 16 now so going back a long time. The rescue were not honest with me and said the kitten was 'cured' of cat flu - which of course can not happen.
When she arrived at ours she started to shed the virus due to stress of a new environment and my Persian contracted it.

....I think alot of vets vaccinate as standard every year whether its suggested by manufacturers or not and many will repeat the entire course even if the cat is only a bit late.

I vaccinate Merlin annually - Unfortunately he did pick up Chlamydia from one of the 'live' vaccines, and now we have to change what he has annually, because the new vet does not use those same vaccines. He has the FeLv / Flu vaccines as standard tho.

So far i have ensured Diego got his first booster for FeLV / Flu and will continue to do so with both him and Django. I am also in the "what if" camp to be honest so i like to take as many precautions as possible even though they are indoor cats as they do get taken out in the garden under supervision.

Plus i occasionally put them in the cattery when i go away and they need to be up to date for that so if there is any chance you might need to put them in a cattery at some point tha'ts also something to consider.