Cat Vaccination Update
Many of you will be aware that for some time now there has been a global shortage of cat vaccines. At present we are still not able to purchase as many doses of vaccine as we need, and most veterinary practices are in a similar position. We are regularly communicating with the vaccine suppliers to try and source as many doses as possible, but currently are only being given a limited number around once a month. We therefore have to prioritise which cats are given vaccines and which are made to wait. We do this by judging which cats have the greatest clinical need to be vaccinated – essentially those likely to have the least immunity to the infectious diseases we are vaccinating against – cat flu, feline panleucopaenia virus and feline leukaemia virus. Kittens who have not had previous vaccination are considered the highest priority, and after that we look towards cats who have not been vaccinated for the longest period of time as their immunity will have waned more than a recently vaccinated cat. Ideally cats would be vaccinated against flu and panleucopaenia every year and against leukaemia every three years (our normal protocol) but there is evidence to suggest immunity against flu and panleucopaenia can persist for 15-16 months and leukaemia protection can remain high for even longer if a number of previous vaccinations have been given. We hope that despite current restrictions we will be able to continue vaccinating your cats at appropriate intervals to maintain or return immunity to desired levels with minimal risk. These viruses can cause severe illness and death so we are taking this vaccine shortage seriously and will do everything we can to source enough doses.
If you have an unvaccinated kitten or your adult cat has gone 15 months since their previous vaccination please contact reception to see if we can schedule a booster. We will update further when the situation changes. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
