Vaccination guidelines for cats and kittens

Vaccination against serious disease is important for cats.

Feline vaccination recommendations covered in the new "Feline Life Stages Guidelines" issued by the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) reiterate the vaccination guidelines previously published in AAFP's 2006 Feline Vaccine Advisory Panel Report.

Vaccination recommendations for cats

Feline vaccinations are divided into two groups: core vaccines and non-core vaccinations.

Core vaccines are those that are recommended for all cats because the diseases that they protect against are either deadly, extremely common or pose a threat to human health. The core vaccines include:

feline herpesvirus 1 (feline rhinotracheitis)
feline calicivirus
feline panleukopenia virus (feline distemper)
rabies

Non-core vaccines are recommended only for specific cats depending on their life style, their environment and their risk of exposure. An analysis must be made with all vaccines pertaining to the risk of administering the vaccine in relation to the risks of the disease itself, but this is especially true with the non-core vaccines. Non-core vaccines include:

feline leukemia virus
feline immunodeficiency virus (feline AIDS)
feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)
Chlamydophila
Giardia
Bordetella bronchiseptica (feline kennel cough)

Core feline vaccines

Kittens should be started on vaccinations against feline herpesvirus 1, feline calicivirus and feline panleukopenia at 6-8 weeks of age and be boostered every 3-4 weeks until reaching 16 weeks of age. Adult cats previously unvaccinated should receive two vaccinations 3-4 weeks apart. The vaccine should be boostered one year later. After that, the AAFP guidelines advise vaccination every three years. (Note: some veterinarians follow these recommendations and others still advise yearly vaccination.)

Rabies can be administered at 8-12 weeks of age, depending on the product being administered, and should be boostered in 12 months. After that time, state regulations and product labels must be followed in regards to frequency of vaccine. (Author's note: Some veterinarians advocate administering rabies vaccines yearly with a product believed to less likely to cause adverse effects. Others advocate vaccinating every three years, believing that public health is more appropriately served by using this strategy.)

Non-core feline vaccinations

The first step in determining which non-core vaccinations should be administered to an individual cat is to determine that cat's individual risk factors. A decision needs to be made regarding whether the cat's risk of disease is high enough to justify any potential side effects from the vaccine.

The current AAFP vaccination guidelines recommend that all kittens receive initial vaccinations for feline leukemia at 8-12 weeks of age, followed by a second dose 3-4 weeks later. Boosters are recommended only for those cats at risk of exposure to feline leukemia. (Author's note: Many veterinarians do not recommend the feline leukemia series for kittens which the owners intend to keep indoors.)

Other non-core vaccines should be administered following product label recommendations, if deemed necessary to protect the cat. In most instances, a series of two to three vaccine doses is recommended initially followed by annual vaccination.

Additional recommendations pertaining to feline health covered by the AAFP/AAHA guidelines include:

These feline health care topics will be covered individually in greater length in upcoming columns. Stay tuned or subscribe to email alerts and be notified when a new article is published.

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