CP vet reply:-
Hi Elaine
Cats in CP Adoption Centre?s are vaccinated against feline herpesvirus, feline calicivirus, Chlamydophila felis, feline parvovirus and feline leukaemia virus. Any cats thought to be in a ?higher risk? category for FIV/FeLV are also blood tested before vaccinated.
It is not currently CP policy for branches to have to vaccinate (although it is encouraged), but it is likely to shortly be a minimum standard that vaccines are given against at least flu and enteritis for all CP cats regardless of age.
Vaccination is generally a safe procedure that has substantially reduced the incidence of serious disease within the feline population. Side effects are rare, especially in view of the thousands of doses that are administered every year, and we feel the risk of a reaction outweighs the protection that the vaccination provides.
However, vaccination is a procedure that is not completely risk free, and a case by case approach to the risk of infectious diseases against the risk of vaccination should be made by the vet whose care the cats are under (i.e. the branch vet in this case). We would also recommend that only healthy cats are vaccinated.
Adult cats are less susceptible to FeLV than kittens and therefore most FeLV positive cats are under 6 years old. However, this age related resistance is not guaranteed and cats could still become infected if they were to come into contact with high levels of the virus. There have been devastating cases of cats not being vaccinated at all, because they were thought to be at low risk of disease (e.g. older cats and/or indoor cats) and then contracting a fatal illness. Whilst these cases should be kept in perspective, it should be remembered that older cats can still be susceptible to disease (including FeLV), even if the risk is thought to be slim.