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Cats seem independent and self-sufficient,
but cats need just as much care and attention as other pets.
Cats are prone to a number of serious diseases and it is extremely
important to ensure that your cat is vaccinated from an early
age. Further prevention from diseases is necessary to maintain
your cat’s health with annual booster injections.
Anyone who has seen a cat in
pain and distress because of a condition that could have been
easily prevented by adequate care will understand why vets are
so keen to promote preventive vaccination for all cats. This
not only helps to prevent the development of the disease to a
terminal stage but also limit the spread of these infectious
diseases to the surrounding feline population.
Vaccinations are important
as almost all catteries will only permit cats that have past
records of vaccinations. This measure serves to protect your
cat as well as to ensure other cats in the cattery are not infected
should your cat be ill. Even cats that have been vaccinated can
sometimes contract a variant of the disease and the less risk
there is to the cattery as a whole the better.
Travel restrictions for pets
can be stringent for most European countries. If you are considering
traveling with your pet you will need to carry all available
documentation concerning your pet's health and vaccination record,
and you may need to show evidence of feline veterinarian treatment
including deworming schedules. Without these documents, your
cat may have to be quarantined for up to six months, thus it
would be import, so do check with your travel agency to make
sure you have all the documentation you may need.
Kittens should be vaccinated
from the age of nine weeks. They are then vaccinated again at
12 weeks, and then go on to a program that would include annual
booster injections.
Your vet would also advise
you on the necessity of giving your cat a rabies shot, particularly
if your cat has contact with other feral cats in the neighborhood
and gets into scrapes. A point to note is that the rabies shot
is a requirement if you are traveling to any country within Europe.
The four main vaccinations
a cat can have from the age of nine weeks are the following:
Feline infectious enterovirus
(FIE, also known as the feline panleukopaenia virus.
Feline herpesvirus (otherwise
known as feline calcivirus, or cat flu)
Feline leukaemia. A vet will
test a cat's blood to see if there is already an immunity built
up from previous contact, and if the test shows negative i.e.
there has been no contact and therefore no immunity built up
the cat should be vaccinated.
Feline Chlamydophila, which
causes conjunctivitis. Again your cat may already have built
up an immunity so your vet can check for antibodies in the bloodstream
and vaccinate if the test comes back negative to previous contact.
Vaccination may save your cat’s
life should it get into any contact with any horrifying diseases.
Although vaccines do hold risk for a small minority of cats who
received them, proper vaccination is still the best solution
and protection your cat can have against infectious disease.
Moses Wright is the webmaster
of CatCustomer.com. He provides more information on Cat
Health, Cat
Veterinary Diseases and Cat
Nutrition that you can learn in the comfort of your home.
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