Giving Vaccines to the boys

Part of the adoption fee for cats at the shelter is that they come vaccinated.  The shelter does the FVRC vaccine and the vet does the rabies (per the fact that it is required by law).  I'm pretty adept at giving vaccines so I'm happy to give the booster at the house when it comes due (and if I think of it) so they don't get so many vaccines at once and on a day of surgery as well.

The virus and the sterile water to mix it with
and the two pipettes for delivery

Mixed

Issac Arnold had absolutely no problem with this.
He is such an easy going kitten

Smedley on the other hand, said NO THANK YOU LADY!!
and nearly fell off the scratching post.
Issac Arnold just wanted more attention

Now as you may know from reading my blog I'm not the biggest fan of vaccines because I do not believe that benefits outweigh the risks in every situation. There are many many side effects to vaccines including "VAS" which is vaccine associated sarcoma - a cancer that ended up taking the life of my kitty Ollie.  It is a very very invasive cancer and very hard to treat and contain.  It can be done, but you need to be very aggressive. I belong to a online group of people who have had a kitty who had VAS, and many are very active and this is their cause.  They spend time reading and researching and in more than one case suing the manufactures trying to get them to take responsibility for this and make vets warn people of the risks - how many of you got vaccines for your kitties and were never warned about VAS?.

Well one member of the group learned about nasal vaccines she asked about them.  I mentioned my vet cautioned against them because if they were going to get cancer from the vaccine you wouldn't want it in the nasal cavity to which "Mick & The Boys" replied

I had that same concern for a long time. I first heard of the Heska nasal vaccine back when I first joined this group twelve years ago, and it's taken me from then 'til now to get it for my kitty Boy

In that twelve years we haven't had any cases of nasal cancer that could be associated with the nasal vaccine, and the vets at the clinic say that they've never heard or read of one either. So I've finally concluded that it's probably pretty safe. Even after twelve years I don't feel certain that it's completely safe. I don't think there will ever be a feline vaccine that's 100% safe.

Which I find all so very fascinating.. so I thought I would share with you.

What I know - Rabies & Vaccines..

Recently I have been reading more and more about Rabies..

As someone who has made the controversial decision to stop vaccinating my cats, this subject interests me a great deal.  There was an article in my local newspaper about incidences of rabies in the area.  That scared me more than anything else, because if it is "in my back yard" than my cat's risk is greater.  But all of my cats have been vaccinated in the past, and they are indoor only (and show almost no interest in going out - if I leave the door open for an extended period they'll investigate but they are too afraid of being shut out to go far) so I think my risk is minimized.

Then I read this blog post* by Dr. Ernie Ward a vet (I am assuming a DVM, but it does not specifically say on his website) and a triathlete and TV show personality.  This post scared me even more.  It is the story of an indoor only kitty who became rabid.  It bit the owners, so they had to go through rabies treatment.  The kitty had apparently had the vaccine in the past but was currently not up to date.

Talk about frightening.

The added graphic showing that the incidents of rabies in cats and dogs in 2008 & 2009 seemed to highlight the dangers of rabies for cats.. as 75-80 dogs and around 300 cats were infected.

But the thing is..

There is no context to these stats.  Did you know there are 86.4 million owned cats and an estimated 70 million more that are homeless? (some how I find it a good thing there are more cats owned than are not)

So the incidents of rabies in cats is minute.  Even if we are talking just the owned cats being responsible for that 300 number then we are talking 0.000004% of the population.  or 1 in ever 288,000 cats being at risk.  That number may be higher or lower depending on the incidents of rabies in your area.  Prior to the reports, there were only a handful of rabid animals reported in my state, and all were found hundreds of miles from my home.

Did you know the incidence of Vaccine Associated Sarcoma is as low as 1 in every 1,000 cats?  I've seen 1:5,000 and 1:10,000.  Even if we went with the highest ratio the odds of getting VAS are almost 30x greater than getting the disease. (and 300x if you go with the lowest number)

Now granted, VAS is associated with all vaccines, FELV in particular so these numbers are probably a little skewed as I can not adjust for "rabies vaccine incidents only"

The whole reason I'm posting this though, is because that original post didn't even MENTION that there is a darn good reason to consider not giving vaccines.  VAS is not the only adverse reaction.

I think we should all know the risks of the choices we make for our kitties..


*Update 2015: That blog post was removed by Dr. Ward. Other posts from the time frame are still up, but not this one.  Science has also shown that animals in which the rabies vaccine they have been given was expired do just fine after an exposure if a booster shot is given.

Better to feel silly then feel sorry...

So apparently I was feeling paranoid. We got Fleurp to the vet and put them on the vet scale and her weight was exactly the same as the last visit. (When I got her home my scale said the same thing) so I figured she was fine, but we ran the standard tests to be sure, and sure enough she's fine. Her stool is fine, her check up checked out fine, and her blood work was fine.

So all that fuss for nothing??

 I always feel a little silly when things come out OK in the end, but then I remind myself that I prefer to feel silly then to ignore things and risk feeling sorry in the end.   It was nice to see Dr. B today and we had a nice talk about life and work.  I also asked him about his new vets.  Apparently he is so busy now that he has been able to add new vets to his practice (I remember him saying he didn't want to do that when he first started a few years ago)   He also invested quite a bit (well he's leasing it anyway) in medical equipment and is able to do a lot more diagnostic tests in house.  It means faster results and cheaper for the clients, which is great.

I have been debating about what to do about the crew and vaccines.  Since Ollie's passing and having to deal with VAS, and a growing trend eschewing all vaccines because it is believed that A) they have much longer immunity then originally though - possibly life time or B) they aren't effective enough to outweigh the risks.  Since we (Dr. B. and I) believe vaccines originally caused Fleurp's anemia and Ollie's cancer, I'm quite sensitive to the risks.  I want to believe they are effective, and I'm going to continue to believe that all cats should be vaccinated.  I am tending towards believing that they should have their kitten series then a booster a year later. (depending on the cat's risks.  My idea is for indoor kitties with no contact with other cats.. for free roaming cats I might think differently, and I'll continue to read what others are doing and how that works for them and the newest research etc).  I know my vet likes vaccines, and so I was prepared for him to tell me that he believed they should get them regularly.  I was a little surprised when he said "for you, for your kitties, because of your vigilance and how aware you are of things, I'd say you are safe not doing them again"  (OK not an exact quote...) I was a little surprised.  He went on to say that he still believes that annual visits are important, which I also believe.  I know my crew is due to go in for a look see, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the vaccines, so I was holding off.   He then went on to say he's giving a discount of $30 off blood work for cats five years and older during routine visits..  

I like my vet, but I haven't always felt appreciated as a client in the past.  (mostly because he didn't hire me when he opened his clinic.. but c'est la vie) but after today I'm back to liking my vet quite a bit.  Then when I saw the tiny bill I was quite pleased.. especially considering I was the last client before the holiday and how much time he spent talking to me.

So we got home, let Fleurp out and minutes later we saw this.  What is it about carriers that come home from the vet that says *BEST PLACE TO TAKE A BATH* in neon flashing letters?

What?  it's comfy!  (Skippy)

Glad to be home.