Vaccines are important health programmes which keeps your pets healthy and helps them lead a long happy life.
If you own a cat and want to know about the vaccination program, then you are in the right space.
Core Vaccination:
Core vaccines are the vaccines that all the cats have to receive to be protected against deadly diseases.
Core vaccinations include:
Rabies
Feline panleukopenia (also known as feline distemper)
Feline calicivirus
Feline viral rhinotracheitis
Rabies Vaccine:
Rabies is a viral infection which directly attacks the neurological system. This is a deadly disease because this not only affects the animal, but also can be transmitted to humans.
Rabies vaccines are given annually to some cats and in some cases it is given once in 3 years.
The feline panleukopenia, feline calicivirus, feline viral rhinotracheitis vaccinations are given in a combination shot (FVRCP), also called the “distemper shot.”
Feline Panleukopenia:
Feline panleukopenia is an infectious disease in kittens, caused by a virus. Symptoms include low appetite, vomiting, fever, diarrhea etc. The virus mainly spreads through feces. In case of this disease, the WBC’s are killed by the virus which may result in secondary infections.
Feline Calicivirus:
It is a viral disease which mainly attacks the upper respiratory tract and results in nasal discharge, mouth ulcers, sneezing, and ocular discharge.
Virus is mainly transmitted through direct contact or via objects. This also results in inflammation of gums.
Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis:
This is also known as Feline herpesvirus which results in upper respiratory tract infection causing symptoms like pneumonia, conjunctivitis, nasal congestion.
Once the first infection is recovered, the virus will be present in the body in an inactivated state, and gets reactivated during the time of stress and shows the infection again.
Non- Core Vaccination:
Non-core vaccines are given to cats in specific risk conditions or benefits.
Feline Leukemia: FeLV
This viral infection spreads through saliva, urine, feces and also milk. This cannot be cured and hence has to be prevented using vaccination.
Bordetella:
This vaccine is given to kittens which stay with other animals. This prevents your kitten from falling sick.
| Age | Core | Non-Core |
| 6-8 weeks | FVRCP | FeLV |
| 10-12 weeks | FVRCP | FeLV |
| 14-16 weeks | FVRCP, Rabies | FeLV |
| Annual and 3 year | Rabies, FVRCP | FeLV, Bordetella |
Conclusion:
We hope you find this useful. Happy reading.
