Vaccinating your cat or kitten

At St. Bernard's Road Veterinary Clinic we recommend cats receive regular vaccinations to prevent serious and sometimes fatal diseases including Feline Enteritis, Cat Flu, and Feline AIDS. Your veterinarian will also conduct wellness checks at the time of vaccination, and answer any health related questions that you have. Kittens need their first vaccination at 8 weeks of age, and then have another 2 vaccinations to fully protect them against these potentially fatal diseases. One week after this full vaccination course, your kitten has optimal protection and is safe to socialize with other cats. We recommend keeping your kitten indoors and away from unvaccinated cats during this time.
Adult cats require yearly boosters. You will receive a reminder when your cat's vaccination is due.

Cat flu is a very common disease and is spread through contact with infected oral and nasal secretions from other cats. Unvaccinated cats, if infected, can develop severe flu symptoms and mouth ulcers and may require aggressive medical treatment in hospital. Infected cats can also become long term carriers for cat flu and have recurrent flu symptoms (sneezing, nasal discharge, watery eyes) and eye ulcers. Feline Panleukopaenia (Feline Enteritis) is less common but may cause life threatening gastroenteritis.

Feline Immunodefiency Virus (FIV), also referred to as 'Cat Aids', is spread mostly by cat bites. Infected cats may not show symptoms for years but instead be carriers for the virus. However, in the long term the virus will cause severe immunosuppression and the infected cat will not be able to fight other infections. Some of the symptoms include severe mouth infections, non-healing abscesses or wounds and respiratory infections. FIV cannot be cured once the cat is infected.