there are now internasal (?) FeLV vaccines, and once the connection between rabies and FeLV vaccines and Injection-Site-Sarcoma (ISS) was recognized, most of the companies removed the adjuvent which was suspected as the cause.
now, however, research suggests that ISS -- formerly known as VAS, Vaccine-Associated Sarcoma -- has to do with the fact that for years and years and years, both in practice in general and in each cat in specific, all injections were given in the scruff of the neck, in roughly the same place...... the new vaccination protocols call for injecting different vaccines in different places, which identifies the culprit-vaccine should a reaction occur, protects from the repeated trauma to one site, and with the suggestion of vaccines administered in legs, allows for much easier treatment should a sarcoma develop. (much easier to amputate a leg after all.....) if the archives are still available, and not lost in one of the server burps, could someone go back and find the whole discussion we had 2 or 3 years ago about this? there were a lot of anecdotal cases of vaccinated positives living much longer lives than most of us get to enjoy with our FeLVs--maybe if someone had the time to pull them out, ask the question again on this and other lists to get more reports, someone could present it to dr pedersen or dr levy, or as was suggested to me, to the folks at winn feline foundation (if we can get a professional researcher interested, they give annual grants......). MC On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 1:56 PM, <patricia.a.elk...@gsk.com> wrote: > I haven't ever heard of any research that indicates what could happen if > you vaccinate an FELV+ cat for FELV. > Most people seem to assume that it would make no difference to the course > of the FELV disease but > I don't think that is based on real information. > > I thought the reason vets almost always recommend against it is that > injection induced sarcoma - or tumor growth > at the injection site - is highest for the FELV vaccine (although still > very minimal). So vaccinating for FELV when not > necessary is subjecting the cat to the risk of the tumor growth at the > injection site. > > One might want to run the risk of tumor growth if there was a beneficial > affect in terms of length of life with the vaccination. > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > -- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org