Milly 1; vet 0. Annual trip to vet made. Cat morphed into screaming dervish and we had to come home uninoculated.

the vet put on the protective gauntlets and waited for me to put my hands into the catbox.

oh no!

will you try again?

yes, it went off quite smoothly last year, but this time they were running 40 mins late and the waiting room filled up with boxers, labs and, yes, a saint bernard, all straining at the leash and breathing heavy.

ahhh

Poor Milly!

that's what I thought. The vet seemed willing to wrestle her into submission but really!

Άτροπος , Snailquake : what do you think about annual shots? I hear talk about them being unnecessary now?

If my cats went outside or had a decent potential for escaping, I'd definitely get them. Where I live it's technically required by law to have them, but you can generally opt-out without problems as long as you inform the vet that the cats is indoor-only

I generally get the vaccines (not all are annual now, but I can't recall which are every two years) for young cats, but once they become sedate seniors, opt out because the risks from injections (not the vaccines themselves) mount with each time.

Milly goes out, and she is not sedate, but we don't have rabies here. Someone said the American Kennel Assn had said as long as puppies/kitten have their first shots and boosters, they don't need yearly.

I think it's your call, then; if you don't think she's likely to catch something while out, then the costs may well outweigh the possible benefits.

, well I will do it (thinking leukaemia, enteritis etc) but I do wonder.

Isn't FeLV a one-shot deal? I thought the main shots (here at least) were rabies and distemper.

I don't know enough about it. I thought it depended where you live and what they're being vaccinated against.