Kitten and Cat Vaccinations

The following information is the result of much research and compiling of information from different sources, which occurred after one of my foster kittens' future adopters asked me about what vaccinations should be given to a kitten.  I realized that, though my family had been housing a family of stray cats and kittens since I was in middle school (long story...), I had no idea what the normal rounds of vaccinations were for cats in general.  

Vaccinating your animals can be very confusing--veterinarians tend to over-vaccinate, for a number of reasons.  When animal vaccinations came into existence, the veterinary community considered them a godsend, as well they should, since thousands of animals were dying of diseases such as panleukopenia, which has a mortality rate of 90% in kittens.  So, out of a natural desire to protect kittens and cats as much as possible, vets tended to give many vaccination boosters.  A second, less appealing reason for over-vaccinating, is that each vaccination brings in money--this practice of encouraging all sorts of unnecessary vaccinations occurs most obviously at Banfield, the veterinary office that is owned by the same large corporation as Petsmart, and often resides within, or right next to, many Petsmart stores.  

Now the natural next question is--what is the harm of over-vaccinating?  Isn't it best to be safe than sorry?  The problem is that the result of over-vaccinating could be worse than the disease that the vaccination is trying to prevent.  Sarcoma is a type of cancer that the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) has linked to vaccination sites.  Basically, it is a lump that doesn't go away at the injection site of a vaccination.  Other negative vaccine reactions can also occur, such as allergic reaction that can cause your cat to stop breathing, as well as seizures. In order to prevent sarcomas and other negative vaccination reactions, as well as protect your cat from deadly diseases, one must find the middle ground between over- and under-vaccinating.  

Here is a vaccination schedule that I've compiled that attempts to reach this middle ground.  It is mostly based upon the AVMA research about the duration of immunity given by various vaccinations, and AVMA cat vaccination recommendations.

8 weeks: FVRCP

12 weeks: FVRCP, and FeLV

16 weeks: FeLV, rabies, sometimes FVRCP

14 months: FVRCP booster, FeLV booster

Then, boosters for FVRCP every 3 years.  

If FeLV vaccine is necessary, boosters are needed annually.