Vet Care

This page answers your questions about vaccinations, deworming, desexing/neutering and about kitten health care.

Vaccinations
The common vaccinations for cats are F3 and F4. F3 vaccinations cover:

1. Enteritis: Feline Panleukopaenia: can cause severe disease in unvaccinated kittens between 3 and 5 months of age. Causes fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, liver failure and even sudden death.
2. Feline Calici Virus: part of the cat flu complex. Causes sneezing, conjunctivitis, and ulcers on the gums and tongue.
3. Feline Rhinotracheitis: part of the cat flu complex. Causes sneezing, depression, conjunctivitis, inappetence, and in the worst cases can lead to permanent nasal and sinus infection.
 
F4 covers the above and the following:

Chlamydia: a bacterial disease causing conjunctivitis, respiratory disease, infectious arthritis and even abortion in pregnant queens.

Depending on your needs and whether you are exporting to another country, you should decide which vaccination is needed. Vaccinations are not expensive, typically <S$50, so it is recommended to go for F4 vaccination.

So when should you have your kitten vaccinated? The kitten is born with immunity from the mother, thus it is generally protected at the time of birth and a few months after. As a general guide, you should get the kittens vaccinated before it reaches 1 year old and on a yearly basis after that. For indoor cats which do not have any interaction with other animals or the external world, once every 2 years vaccination could be considered. However, again vaccination is cheap, so try to get your kitten vaccinated on a yearly basis if possible.

Here is a link to ASPCA website on more information about cat vaccination: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/vaccinations


Desexing/Neutering
Desexing/neutering or spaying involves surgically removing the reproductive organs in female cats and castration in male cats. This procedure is quick and simple and usually involves a visit to the Vet in the morning and you can collect your cat in the afternoon. The benefit of having procedure performed is that it eradicates mating behaviour in your cat, ie female cats will avoid going into heat when they will look for male cats to mate and meow loudly for attention at all hours looking for mates, and in male cats, it prevents the behaviour of marking territory by spraying their urine.

More information about desexing/neutering can be found at TICA's site at this link http://www.tica.org/members/publications/brochures/nueter.pdf