Coming in 2014 to a Vet Near You: Tail Vaccinations

Catster ^ | Jan 14th 2014 | Dr. Eric Barchas

[Danette]

Vaccine injections have been linked to aggressive sarcomas in cats, leading to horrible limb amputations. That could end soon.

(excerpt-interesting reading at source)

[Silentgypsy]

Wow! Got photos?

[MHGinTN]

Yes. I started taking pix when just the little mother was first visiting to get fed. She had five kits, which she brought around a few weeks later at their age ~10 weeks since birth. That began in the summer of 2013. The mother still comes around and she has a 'doorbell' I rigged for her to let me know when she's around so I can feed her directly. [I placed a metal chocolate can on a string and tied to the back door handle --I have handles not nobs-- and slipped over the inner handle so when she pulls the outside handle, the can falls clanking against the metal door.]

Two of her kits still come around, and one, Buster, is almost grown yet he still climbs into my lap to check what treats I've got for him. His sister, Bashful, will not climb into my lap, but she will hold my hand to receive treats when I hold it out to her.

I have photos on my computer and when time permits I will see if I can download a few to the cloud pix service I use.

[MHGinTN]

Here are two from last summer. This is the mother, Bandit Girl. She was showing up to forage two or three hours BEORE dark last summer. She was starving from feeding five little ones, so she quickly decided to trust me and take the food offered. I became quite fond of her and she became very trusting of me, standing on her back legs to place her front paws on my leg when I would sit on the back deck and share oatmeal cookies with her. If I did not pay close attention to her, she would rise up on her back legs, place one paw on my leg and gently scratch on my leg with the other paw until I shared with her. She is smallish for a full grown rakkie.

Here

And here

[MHGinTN]

Though one is not really clear (night pix are not my forte), the following two are 'informative':

This is Buster at about ten to twelve weeks, learning to 'dip' his food from a 12 x 12 metal pan into a nearby water filled pie pan:

And this one is of four of the five little rascals come to dinner on my back deck:

[Silentgypsy]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting those darling photos! Are we blessed or what?

[Silentgypsy]

You are the raccoon whisperer!

[MHGinTN]

Well thank you for that kind thought. I do thank God for the joy they bring when they come around. But they are wild creatures. Their behaviors are interesting to observe. I just hope that I am not dooming them to be shot by some other not so kind human when they go pulling on the door nob, somewhere. Buster has learned the trick his mother uses. He uses it if he climbs onto the plant stand at the window to my office next tot he deck and I don’t respond with treats. Sometimes I hear the can clank late at night/after midnight, from my bedroom. Sometimes I hurry to the window to greet them and feed them. Sometimes I just let it go. I don’t want them becoming dependent only to be left without if/when my demise arrives.

[exDemMom]

Having had a diabetic, with no other problems, I don't think I believe that a needle injury causes a sarcoma.

Fibrosarcoma is so rare that the chance of you seeing it in your cat even after frequent injections is quite low. Only 1 in 1,000 to 10,000 cats gets that form of cancer. Even to make the association between that kind of cancer and needle injury requires a huge sample size. Vaccines are implicated because, for most cats, those are the most frequent cause of needle injury. By injury, I do not mean anything dramatic--I mean the normal tiny puncture the needle makes.

On the other hand, I have never been big on vaccinations. My cats are all indoors only so all they ever got were the kitten vaccinations.

I really do not understand anti-vaccine sentiment. Infectious diseases can kill within days or hours; if such a disease can be prevented by a vaccine, I am all for it.

Even with your indoors-only cats, if one of them bites someone and you cannot provide proof of rabies vaccination, your cat will be killed for testing. That is mandatory by law in every state. The only time I have heard of that requirement being waived was when the bite victim absolutely refused to have the cat killed for testing--she opted to go through the rabies serum injections rather than kill the stray cat she had been feeding.

One of my indoor cats was tested for rabies. She had bitten me right before dying from FIP. She didn't have rabies.

[JLLH]

I think more people are against OVER vaccination than outright vaccination. Of course, the convo here is about cats and that may be a different situation, but we titer for our dogs. We follow the lead of head immunologist Dr. Ron Schultz. The recommendation is not “Don’t vaccinate” but “Don’t OVER vaccinate” - esp. when titers already show immunity. Much damage can be done to the immune system. Re: the rabies, I think your info. is not completely accurate there. Actually, if your animal bites someone, they will put the animal in quarantine. This happened with a feral that my parents were getting vaccinated. They clearly didn’t know how to handle him, despite their assurances to the contrary. Anyway, when the period was up, he was released (along with his records since my parents were furious, but that’s another story). Bottom line: if your animal is bitten by an animal that is suspected or known to be rabid — THEN your pet could be in danger of his/her life. It may differ in your state, but that’s how it is here re: the rabies issue. It’s really time the laws reflected science! Rabies is not that easy to get and even in wildlife, not every animal carries it or has it. Responsible and careful pet ownership will prevent much of those issues. It’s a shame so many pet owners over-vaccinate out of fear. We have studied the issue, read the research and refuse to do that. Knowledge is power.

[Silentgypsy]

It's difficult to know the right thing to do. Crowbar the dog and I went for a walk a few weeks ago and we startled a doe and fawn. It's alarming that they didn't notice us and were right out in the open--we have forest on all sides, but they seem to forget to sneak around. Worrisome.

Thank you very much for posting your photos!