What Vaccinations are required for cat's in Perth?
At Huntingdale Veterinary Centre we recommend the following vaccination schedule; 
Depending on your location some infections may be more or less common. Your veterinarian will assess the relative risks based on you and your cat's specific lifestyle requirements and advise you accordingly. Indoor's cats are obviously unlikely to get in fights so disease spread is reduced in these cat's. If your cat even just goes out into the back yard or courtyard we recommend a full F5 vaccination course
Vaccination schedules vary depending on your local area as well as the brand and type of vaccine your vet carries. As a result when you call different practices you will often get different prices.
Newborn animals have not yet had a chance to develop their own immunity so they need protection against infections. They receive this immunity from their mother. Maternal immunity is only temporary. It declines steadily over the first few weeks of life and is largely gone by twelve weeks. The rate of decline is variable depending on many factors. This is why your puppy will receive 3 vaccinations from 6-16 weeks of age.
We cannot ensure that your kitten will have developed complete immunity against the diseases it is being vaccinated for until 10-14 days after our advised third vaccine. It is generally inadvisable to let your young kitten outdoors until at least 4 months of age. This is the same period when they are at greatest risk of being infected with disease, particularly cat flu and feline leukaemia (FeLV). Generally we agree that keeping your cat indoors for it's entire life (with an outside enclosure) is best, with average survival of indoors cat's being 12 years. Average lifespan is much reduced for their outdoors companions to only 5 years!. Having said that, it can be in many circumstances difficult to keep a curious cat indoors 100% of the time.
My cat never goes outside does it still need to be vaccinated?Yes, your cat still needs to be vaccinated. Many of the diseases we vaccinate against are airborne (cat flu) or can be brought into the home on your shoes (e.g. feline panleukopaenia/enteritis). Your cat therefore does not need to come into direct contact with another cat to become infected.
The fact that your cat does not mix with other dogs means it is isolated. This removes any opportunity to be naturally 'vaccinated' and reimmunise themselves. As a result their level of immunity may in fact be lower than cat's that are allowed outside. It is not uncommon for an indoors, fully vaccinated cat to get significant signs of cat flu following boarding in a cattery.
In most properly vaccinated cats, the immunity should last more than a year, and often several years. However, immunity does decline with time and this decline rate varies with individuals. To maintain the best immunity in a reasonable way, revaccinations have proven very successful. You can opt for "titre testing" to assess your pets immunity though it is generally more expensive than revaccination. Your veterinarian will discuss the need and frequency of booster vaccinations for your cat based on your pet’s needs and lifestyle.
Within a few hours of vaccination the earliest phases of the immune response are being stimulated. It usually requires ten to fourteen days before a reasonable level of protection is established. Killed vaccines may not provide adequate protection until after the second dose. Also in young kittens maternal antibody may hinder protection until later in the vaccine series. Therefore it is advisable to keep a recently vaccinated kitten until it has finished its vaccination course.
Vaccines have been highly successful in protecting the majority of cats, but there are situations in which the immunity conferred by a vaccine may be overcome and a vaccinated cat may still develop disease. In such cases the disease is generally milder than it would have been had the dog not been vaccinated.
If you have any further questions or would like to call us to book your cat or kitten in for vaccination Ph: (08) 9493 2199
