Midnight is sick after regular shots

[scottd]

Originally Posted by Desert Hippie

Midnight is now covered for basic cat flu(s), feline leukemia
and rabies.

There is a lot of discussion these days about over-vaccinating our
pets, giving them updates when their immunity is still high. Think
about it -- how often do we receive measles or tetanus ourselves?
My vet recommends every 3 years, including the rabies, and I'm
more than happy to go with that schedule. It's easier on the cat
and a lot easier on the pocket, too

You might want to reconsider that. The only non-adjuvanted rabies is only licensed for 1 year. Adjvuants are linked to causing adverse reactions and are believed to cause vaccine associated sarcomas. A dose of the non-adjuvanted rabies yearly is almost always considered to be safer than a dose of the adjuvanted every 3 years.

[Desert Hippie]

My vet says they are the same thing and ALL are good for 3 years.
That was a couple of years ago, so may be things have changed
in the interim, but that was the last info I received. I will certainly
ask that question of him again!

[scottd]

Your vet is misinformed. The non-adjuvanted vaccine is COMPLETELY different. It's a live canarypox vectored vaccine. A virus that effects birds but is completely harmless to cats is modified to contain parts of rabies DNA (again completely harmless). The cats immune system kills off the virus and gains immunity to rabies. The other vaccines are the actual rabies virus but killed. Because they are killed, it needs an adjuvant to create an immune response. Adjuvants are basically irritants added to cause the response. The PureVax vaccine is only licensed for 1 year because not enough cats contracted rabies in the control group for the 3 year license testing which doesn't reflect on the vaccine at all. It more than likely lasts much more than 3 years but it's only licensed by the FDA for 1 year. Ask your vet again and if you don't take my word for it, do some research. I believe that Dr Lisa Pierson has done a big write up on it.

[Desert Hippie]

Originally Posted by scottd

Your vet is misinformed. The non-adjuvanted vaccine is COMPLETELY different. It's a live canarypox vectored vaccine. A virus that effects birds but is completely harmless to cats is modified to contain parts of rabies DNA (again completely harmless). The cats immune system kills off the virus and gains immunity to rabies. The other vaccines are the actual rabies virus but killed. Because they are killed, it needs an adjuvant to create an immune response. Adjuvants are basically irritants added to cause the response. The PureVax vaccine is only licensed for 1 year because not enough cats contracted rabies in the control group for the 3 year license testing which doesn't reflect on the vaccine at all. It more than likely lasts much more than 3 years but it's only licensed by the FDA for 1 year. Ask your vet again and if you don't take my word for it, do some research. I believe that Dr Lisa Pierson has done a big write up on it.

You bet I'm going to ask my vet! This is a bad subject on which to be
mislead by authorities, especially as I live in an area that has a serious
rabies problems in skunks and foxes every year. We're paying his exorbitant
rates to push that syringe plunger because he is supposed to be the
expert on this stuff and I am displeased to think I'm being mislead. Thank
you for the info and the heads up!