Rabies shot at 14 yrs.
 

My mother in law wants to have her 14 yr old cats teeth cleaned, but they will not do it unless he has a rabies shot, even though the cat is a strictly indoor cat. She is worried he too old for it, and can't understand why they treat the cat for allergies, etc. without a shot, but won't clean the teeth without one. They told her they could give the cat a shot right before they clean the teeth, but whats the point in doing it then, if their worried about rabies, the shot wouldn't help. Do you think its safe for an old cat to get a rabies shot, and especially at the time of dental cleaning?

Wow, I think I'd take my cat to another vet. I can't say if it's safe or not, but I would certainly get a second opinion elsewhere.

Aren't rabies shots the law? It's possible that the vet is only insisting upon this because there is a liability issue involved.

[QUOTE=cassblonde;1053006]Aren't rabies shots the law? [/QUOTE]

Depends where you live. Here in Calgary they aren't required. I personally would not be vaccinating any cat at the time of any surgical procedure.... way too taxing on their immune system. I'd either find another vet, or ask to do a titre test in place of the vax.

I haven't vaccinated any of my cats, except Noella, since they were kittens. Noella got her kitten shots and booster. Bobee hasn't had shots since her was a kitten. When I took Nino in for his bladder infection, the vet asked if he had his shots. I said no but he's strictly indoor and she didn't say anymore about it and he stayed overnight. I wouldn't be vaccinating a 14 year old cat either! I'd be getting a second opinion too! On the other hand, Bayley is vaccinated, rabies etc.

I certainly would not vaccinate a 14 yr old indoor kitty. The risks of vaccination are already high, then factor in the age and that this kitty has probably been vaccinated over the years (high risk for over-vaccinating)... too risky imo. And like SCM has said, very risky just before surgery. I would be finding another vet. Titre testing is a good way to go if they insist on the vaccination. I went to a lecture by Dr. Steve Marsden (veterinary and human Naturopath and TCM and also our lil Nookies vet :cloud9:) and he really covered companion animal health, diet and vaccines. He spoke about Dr. Ronald Schultz, who has spent more than 30 yrs of his life studying vaccinations, the effects of over-vaccinating and duration that the vaccine has on immunity. I won't go in to all the details, but this is a great arcticle if you would like to read it:

[url]http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/lifelong-immunity-vets/[/url]

Good luck :)

I take her cats and mine to the vets, not all at the same place. This place has a fairly new vet working there, and he said he would not clean the cats teeth without a shot. I said I thought the cat was too old, and that he never leaves the living room/kitchen/bedroom. I got the lecture about a bat could get in the house and bite him and blah, blah, blah. (This same place cleaned my cats teeth last year, and she had no shots, but it was with another vet that works there.) He told me that if something went wrong they could give him Benedryl or a steroid shot, but in my opinion it just isn't worth putting an old cat with a slight heart murmer through it. Its a law that dogs have shots, but not cats.

[QUOTE=lindapalm;1053041]I take her cats and mine to the vets, not all at the same place. This place has a fairly new vet working there, and he said he would not clean the cats teeth without a shot. I said I thought the cat was too old, and that he never leaves the living room/kitchen/bedroom. I got the lecture about a bat could get in the house and bite him and blah, blah, blah. (This same place cleaned my cats teeth last year, and she had no shots, but it was with another vet that works there.) He told me that if something went wrong they could give him Benedryl or a steroid shot, but in my opinion it just isn't worth putting an old cat with a slight heart murmer through it. Its a law that dogs have shots, but not cats.[/QUOTE]

Wow... I would definitely be finding another vet. Especially since he is thinking it's accpetable practice to give the shot then have Benadryl and steroids handy in case something goes wrong! :eek: :eek:
I would hope he knows those are only "bandaids" on a bigger issue if a reaction occurs. But then again, if he does know that and is still insisting on it, I would have to assume he's in it for the money and not the welfare of the animal. Either way, it's unacceptable. Our Nookie will struggle for the rest of his life, no matter how long or short that is, due to a reaction to vaccines as a baby. It infuriates me to see vets like this.

Rguerts, good article, I feel better after reading it.

[QUOTE=lindapalm;1053043]Rguerts, good article, I feel better after reading it.[/QUOTE]

:thumbs up

[QUOTE=lindapalm;1053041]I got the lecture about a bat could get in the house and bite him [/QUOTE]

I swear, the vaccine manufacturers must be handing out pamphlets to vets telling them to say this if they encounter resistant clients.

lol a bat umm i think i would know if that happened go back to the first vet my vet works for a clinic but i wont see any one else

My husband said I should have asked him if he was so worried about rabies, what type of protection would he have gotten by giving a cat a shot minutes before the cleaning. Seems like its too late then. I'm going to request another vet do the cleaning, if they won't, we have four other places I can go to. I would have preferred to stick with them cause they have all the records, but I can easily fill a new vet in on the necessary info if I have to. Sad that this is what the new guys are being taught, you would think it would be just the opposite now days. The other vet there is in his late sixties, he'd tell me my cats should have shots, I'd say no, and he'd drop it. Going to try for him.

[QUOTE=lindapalm;1053056]I would have preferred to stick with them cause they have all the records, but I can easily fill a new vet in on the necessary info if I have to. [/QUOTE]

If you do go to a different clinic, request a copy of all your records and take them with you. They might charge you for photocopying or whatever, but you have a right to them. Although I'm willing to bet that if push comes to shove and they realize they're about to lose a client over this issue, they may change their tune.

I'm going to call next week and make an appointment. I don't know if the same vet that did my cats teeth last year is still practicing, but I'm going to ask for him.

Took my 11 year old cat to a different vet,( one that never required shots in the past) for teeth cleaning. The girl said they would not do the work without rabies shots, and I should also get distemper, etc. I told her to forget cleaning the teeth, and she went to talk to the vet. He proceeded to tell me that rabies shots is a law with cats(I didn't know) and give me the bat in the house lecture. Said cats barely ever have reactions, hes only seen it twice. I told him no, and he had me sign a waiver saying I've been told what the consequences are if my cat bites someone. How can they possibly have a law requiring cats to have shots, it would be impossible to enforce? If your cat was outside, you could deny it was yours, and if they came to your house to check, the cats would be hiding under the beds.

I agree good article Rgeurts... :thumbs up

A few weeks ago actually, I took Bestia to a Homeopathic vet we have in the city (the only one in our province!), the reason, when Bestia was only about 6-7 months, he started having "reverse sneezing", which I also thought it could be an anxiety problem since it happened also when he was excited, or wanted attention.

Sometimes it seems to happen more often, and then he can go days without it happening, so as a worrying mom I am, I wanted to take him to the doctor, they did Xrays and everything seem fine, the regular vet gave us some allergy meds and anti-inflammatory; but it kept happening and I really didn't want to have him going on more meds and then I found the homeopathic Dr. so I made an appt and saw her a couple weeks ago. She checked Bestia and said everything was perfect with him, she gave me a remedy, that is new, that some pets have had great success with in not having the reverse sneezing, of course, there is others that just has no effect on them, but at least is a remedy that I know cannot hurt him even if it doesn't work.

Anyways, after my long story here, while going through Bestias history with her and such, she mentioned to me that she works with holistic doctors in other parts of the world and once they had a conference with some in the UK, where Rabies had not been present for a long time, and they started taking about reverse sneezing - They had no idea what that was! - so now they are studying to see if there may be a link between the rabies shots and this problem. :eek: She said that once Bestia's annual check up comes up, we could look into other holistic options instead of vaccines, which I am very open to, since last year when Bestia had his Rabies and parvo shoots he had a bit of a reaction to them.

OP, I guess this is too late to be of any benefit to you but, we can titre dogs to see if there is still defence against rabies in their system. Research shows the vaccine is effective for years longer than the vaccination interval. I don't know anyone who titres their cat but I'd look into it.

FWIW my Vet does not give the rabies to my 15, 17 and 19 year old cats. Actually they are all closer to one year older so 16, 18 and 20.

Another thought: You know, people can be vaccinated against rabies too. I'd kind of think a Vet who was that concerned might have himself vaccinated. My neighbour who used to work at Connaught Labs making rabies vaccine was vaccinated years ago and last I heard he had himself titred every year to see if he still had resistance. Seven years out and the vaccination he'd had 7 years previous was still producing high enough titre levels. I worked at Connaught too and everybody who worked there, in rabies, had to be vaccinated.

I didn't know people could get vaccinated, too. When I was talking to the vet and he said a bat could get in and bite the cat, I told him the bat would probably bite me first because I'm a bigger target, so I should get a shot, too. I was only kidding, I didn't know its possible to get one. Naturally, his answer was that the cat would get bit first because she would chase the bat.