modified live vaccines????

[Karen]

Stregarossa...one more thing... I feel that you should NOT have that combo vaccine. I would avoid the Feline Leuk as stated above by others. All of this can be SO confusing. When you are asking for advice from others, or talking to your Vet, try to obtain info about the actual LABEL that is on a given Vaccine....If you have that, you can also look at the Manufacturer's website for more info on it. LOL- I make a point of asking a Vet to "show me the label" before they inject my cats. Crazy how some Vets appear to have "issues" over such a request.

 

[scorpius]

I encountered the very same issue with my first F2....NONE of the Vets in my immediate area were willing to obtain Killed, and I called them all.

Same here...well my vet had to call another office to get the Killed vaccine. Both my breeders recommended using Killed, although my vet does MLV usually and on big cats he also works on. But he had no issues admin'd the killed vaccine and I'm just adhering to what my breeders prefer. Neither Shango or Amaury had any side effects even during first day or so. dj

 

[Karen]

LOL- the vaccine issues always frustrate and scare me. LOL- is it just me, or do any of you feel like a Vet or Vet Staff gives you an "attitude" when you ask questions? Seems like they are so used to owners who blindly permit their pets to have whatever they are "told" a pet must have. When I was calling around to ask what types of vaccines were used at different Practices, some of the Staff did not know. LOL- some appeared to have attitutes when I asked them if they could simply "go in the med room and LOOK at the darned labels". LOL- for example, I would ask "what type of Rabies are you giving"....answer was "Rabies is required by Law yearly". Me- "I know that, but what TYPE of Rabies do you give"...Answer: "I'm not sure". Me: "well, would you mind looking at the label for me"? LOL- see what I mean? I am not trying to be nasty...I just like to know what my pets are going to be given before they get it- is this so bad? I also like to write down the Manufacturer and type of vaccine....by "type", I mean the info on the label...ie, the exact name of each vaccine that my pets have. Seems like some Vets appear to be annoyed when I ask for this info. I always feel a bit uncomfortable for asking to see the labels- as if I am doing something wrong. I like to call the Vet Practice before an appointment for a given vaccine- just to be sure that they still are using the same one. I also ask the same question during the appointment. By now, they should be used to my questions, but I can't help but feel that they are annoyed with me. This bothers me...I see nothing wrong with my questions. I used to work as a RN before I became a SAHM. I was very used to showing my patients the little blister packs that had the names of their meds written on them BEFORE they took them. Wish Vets/Vet Staff had the same mentality re this.

 

[Kristin]

LOL- the vaccine issues always frustrate and scare me. LOL- is it just me, or do any of you feel like a Vet or Vet Staff gives you an "attitude" when you ask questions? Seems like they are so used to owners who blindly permit their pets to have whatever they are "told" a pet must have. When I was calling around to ask what types of vaccines were used at different Practices, some of the Staff did not know. LOL- some appeared to have attitutes when I asked them if they could simply "go in the med room and LOOK at the darned labels". LOL- for example, I would ask "what type of Rabies are you giving"....answer was "Rabies is required by Law yearly". Me- "I know that, but what TYPE do you give"...Answer: "I'm not sure". Me: "well, would you mind looking at the label for me"? LOL- see what I mean? I am not trying to be nasty...I just like to know what my pets are going to be given before they get it- is this so bad? I also like to write down the Manufacturer and TYPE of each vaccine that my pets have. Seems like some Vets appear to be annoyed when I ask for this info. I always feel a bit uncomfortable for asking to see the labels- as if I am doing something wrong. I like to call the Vet Practice before an appointment for a given vaccine- just to be sure that they still are using the same one. I also ask the same question during the appointment. By now, they should be used to my questions, but I can't help but feel that they are annoyed with me. This bothers me...I see nothing wrong with my questions. I used to work as a RN before I became a SAHM. I was very used to showing my patients the little blister packs that had the names of their meds written on them BEFORE they took them. Wish Vets/Vet Staff had the same mentality re this.

I think a lot of times vets are preparing for owners who aren't willing to spend the money to vaccinate their pet, or argue why vaccinations are necessary. There are a lot of people who do this, not to say it excuses them for being rude.

 

[John Popp]

I have a great deal of sympathy for vets and their staffs when confronted with this issue. There isn't any scientific evidence to back the claims and at best anecdotally purveyed through heresy and rumor. Our vet is totally fine with dealing with the questions although sometimes you can tell she has to take a deep breath remembering that we are the customers and only want what's best for our pet. Conversely, when Chongo needed surgery, the Surgeon who it was performed by let it rip.

While the surgeon was very sure to preface things by telling my wife and I that he would respect our wishes while also mentioning that none of the red flags were going to be raised in the anesthesia, that clearly there was no science behind all that you hear of Ketamine and MLV vaccines. He went on to say that cats as well as any other pet can have an adverse reaction to vaccines or anesthesia, and unfortunate as it may be some times those adverse reactions result in death. In his position he certainly needs to bridge the gap between science and the patient's wishes, while making fairly clear much of the debate was based on backwoods legend not science.

Anyway, we thanked him for his candid opinion, were happy that ketamine wasn't in play and were grateful that the surgeon that had been mentioned as the best to get Chongo fixed up was the guy who would have the knife in his hand. Had it been someone else, I might not have taken his comments so much to heart. Meanwhile I'm also not going to tempt fate and will continue to request killed vaccine for my buddy.

 

[Diane]

With my next savannah cat, I would rather NOT give rabies or any other type of vaccines and play it save. I wonder if that would be better? Just wondering.

 

[Diane]

Vaccines have been given to my F3 but it does make me worried if I am doing the right thing.

 

[Sunny]

I'm in the same boat, I insisted on Isis having her shots before introductions to the household, having a "closed" environment without contact with other cats. It makes me wonder if they didn't inherit something else when they both got sick the same week after the first introduction month. Seems OK now! I used MLV.

 

[Diane]

Sunny, what is MLV? Sorry don't know all the abbreviations....

 

[John Popp]

Keep in mind that the rabies vaccines are in most if not all states required by law. Not that your vet should get in the way if you decline, but if you ever had issues with the authorities, definitely something they would seek proof of.