I have always been fanatical about having all of my animals properly cared-for, neutered, immunized and so forth, and have never before had any problems until now.
Our little tuxedo cat, Emily, is our newest addition and has been with us since my DH found her in May of 2002. After nursing her back to health, we brought her for her initial kitten immunizations. For two days afterward, Emily was in bad shape -- totally listless, wouldn't eat or drink, obviously in extreme discomfort, and sleeping a lot in out-of-the-way places so as not to be disturbed. One-half of a baby-aspirin (vet recommended) helped only a little.
At six months of age, we had her spayed. No problems. She took it like a champ and was bouncing around the house that evening. I was amazed, but it led me to conclude that it was the shots, not any procedures, which made Emily sick.
A few days ago, when we brought the cats in to be chipped, Emily needed her 'booster' shots. Once again, afterward, she was listless and refused food and water and was in obvious discomfort. I gave her one-quarter of a baby aspirin, which helped slightly with the discomfort, but she again slept on-an-off, for almost two days.
I am dreading the next round of shots and have decided to put my cats on an every-other-year schedule of immunizations rather than annually, as I have been doing.
I came to this decision not only because I am afraid for Emily, but because I have been reading that many veterinarians are now finding that yearly shots may not be necessary, and also after reading about injection-site sarcoma and other dangers.
I will still have my cats immunized, because even though they NEVER go outside, they do have contact with outside cats through the screened door, many diseases are air-borne, and we could possibly bring something inside on our clothes. So the threat of these diseases outweighs my fears about immunizations. (I have seen cats suffer and die from these diseases for which we now immunize -- it isn't pretty).
Has anyone talked to their vets about spacing-out immunizations to two- or three-year shedules?
Or has anyone else had their cats or dogs have bad reactions to the shots? If so, was there anything you could do that made the animal more comfortable?
