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Vaccination

The importance of vaccinating your cat

When discussing your pet’s health, we most likely asked you if your animal is vaccinated or not. Vaccination is the most common form of preventive medicine. Why is it so important? What are the benefits and the risks of vaccinating?

What is a vaccine?

A vaccine is a suspension of attenuated or dead microorganisms that is administered to prevent a disease.

In animals, the most common administration route is an injection through the skin, or in the nose through the mucous membrane.

What are the effects of a vaccine?

A vaccine is meant to stimulate immunity against a specific disease. This means that your animal’s immune system is stimulated to respond to the vaccine in order to react again properly in the future.

Depending on the type of vaccine and the age of the animal, the vaccination schedule will vary to achieve the best immune response. Also, not all vaccines are as effective. For this reason, it is important to follow the veterinarian’s recommendations to ensure that your pet is well protected.

Which vaccines protect cats?

There are vaccines that we call core vaccines that are recommended for all cats. Then, depending on the cat’s age, lifestyle, and other cats in the household, other vaccines may also be needed based on possible exposure to other viruses and bacteria.

In Quebec, the rabies vaccine is not mandatory, but it is very often recommended even if your cat is not officially a great outdoor explorer. Rabies is a zoonosis (spread from animals to humans) and it is deadly. It can be found in bats, raccoons, and foxes.

What the risks related to vaccination?

Like anything, 0 risk doesn’t exist. Studies have shown a 0.38% of various levels of side effects in dogs, and 0.52% in cats. With less than 1% risk of side effects, we can say that vaccination is very safe!

To make sure that it remains a low-risk procedure, a health exam has to be performed prior to the vaccines. It ensures that the animal is in good health and therefore able to receive its vaccines. For example, if an animal shows signs of infection it is usually better to wait for vaccines because going through with vaccination at this point could overwhelm the animal’s immune system, which is already busy! Also, in such cases, the vaccines may not work as there wouldn’t be a proper immune response.

Are vaccine’s effective for life?

The immune system is a little bit like memory, it forgets with time! To maintain your animal’s immunity, booster shots are needed. How often you give the booster varies on the vaccine and what it contains. Your veterinarian will give you the proper vaccination schedule to meet your pet’s specific needs.

Do the test! Simply answer true or false to the following.

  • Deworming treatments are vaccines.
    • FALSE
      Vaccines are a suspension of microorganisms, that are attenuated or dead, that we administer to stimulate immunity against specific disease.
      Deworming treatments are medications that can eradicate or protect against parasites.
  • My cat and my friend’s cat may not need the same vaccines even if they are the same age.
    • TRUE
      There are the core vaccines that are recommended for all cats. Then, depending on the lifestyle of the cats and their owners, other vaccines may be necessary based on possible exposure to other viruses and bacteria.
  • My cat was vaccinated as a kitten so they are protected for life.
    • FALSE
      To maintain your pet’s immunity, vaccines require booster shots.
  • If I want to travel to the United States with my cat, they need to be vaccinated against rabies.
    • TRUE
      Your cat has to be up to date with their rabies vaccine in order to travel to many destinations outside Canada, including the United States.

Have more questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact the Passionimo veterinary clinic near you.