Prevention is Better than Cure: Get your Cat Vaccinated

When you first get a cat, everyone tells you it’s essential to have the cat vaccinated.  Your cat health insurance provider will probably insist on it.  But you may not be sure why it’s necessary. 

Vaccination for your cat protects him against some of the most serious infectious diseases.  These diseases are not only very dangerous, but they can cause great suffering and misery for your cat.

So what will your cat be vaccinated against?

• Feline infectious enteritis (FIE).  This is an extremely dangerous disease for cats and lots of cats used to die of it before an effective vaccine became available.  In its most severe form, the cat will become ill and die within a day – this is most likely happen to kittens.  In the more common form, the disease can run for 3-7 days and can still be fatal.  There will be profuse diarrhoea and vomiting.  The cat will refuse to eat but will hover over his water bowl without drinking.  He will seem profoundly depressed and will adopt a hunched position caused by acute abdominal pain.  As this is a viral disease there is really no effective cure.  So you absolutely must prevent it by having your cat vaccinated.
   
• Cat flu.  The proper name for this disease is Feline respiratory disease (FRD) -  it has nothing to do with the human flu virus.  The first signs are often sneezing, and an eye discharge which gets thicker and yellower.  The cat will stop eating and will probably develop mouth ulcers.  If your cat is vaccinated, he shouldn’t get the disease.  If he does, get him to the vet as quickly as possible. It is really painful and miserable for your cat.
   
• Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV).    This is not related to the type of leukaemia that usually occurs in humans.  It is transmitted from cat to cat via bodily fluids such as blood or saliva.  You sometimes hear that it can’t be transmitted to humans but, sadly, occasionally this does happen, with fatal consequences.  Signs that your cat may have developed the disease include fever, lethargy weakness, depression, and swollen glands.  The cat could die at this stage, or he could make a complete recovery.  The second stage will probably show itself through malignant disease of the lymph nodes or the white blood cells.  The cat is unlikely to survive this second stage.  Again, no treatment is available, so you must have your cat vaccinated.

Most vets provide an all-in-one vaccination for all three of these diseases.  Your cat health insurance usually won’t pay for this.  However, if you haven’t had your cat vaccinated and he develops one of these dreadful diseases, you will almost certainly find it isn’t covered by the cat health insurance.