Cat Chat Feline Forum

Again sorry folks for posting twice on the forum but don't want this to be overlooked.

We took Mikel in for his annual jabs (first time we have had to do this as we only got him last year at 9 months when he had them from the rescue centre) and the vet sent us away as it turned out they had ordered the non-FIV friendly vaccinations. We were told to come back next week.

Then my other half got a call from the same vet yesterday basically saying that we may want to think about NOT vaccinating him, he is fairly low risk FIV (kept indoors, no other cats etc) and so the vaccinations may just cause his FIV to flair up and turn out to be more dangerous than its worth.

I just wanted to see if anyone else had heard the same thing as it sounds pretty bizarre to me, what would you guys do? Mikel's health is my first priority as I love this furry mess so much I don't want to make him sick and risk losing him

Hi there,

I know what you mean, it is difficult to decide. Bob had already had his first full round of vaccinations before we discovered his FIV status. I don't remember him being 'out of sorts' afterwards. But he has not been vaccinated since - but then neither have my other cats. To be honest, the more I read about the adjuvants in vaccines the less I want to use them.

Bob, and the others get flea/tick/worm treatment (probably not as often as suggested) but I don't like over medication. Bob AND Purdy both go a bit quiet and 'offish' after those treatments. The other two seem fine with them.

The only problem would be if we wanted to put them in a cattery at any time. But that is highly unlikely.