We always give the initial series of FELV vaccinations to all cats we adopt out. MC is right, as usual. My old vet said he had NEVER seen a case of sarcoma he felt was caused by a vaccine, but he had seen plenty of cats with FELV.
On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 5:23 AM, MaryChristine <twelvehousec...@gmail.com>wrote: > the injection-site sarcoma issue has largely been eliminated by the removal > of the adjuvent, the change in placement of the vaccine, and the advent of > safer inoculations, and non-injecting manners of delivery. > > if you're NEVER going to bring another cat into your house, EVER, then i'd > say, don't vaccinate. but if you are, i'd do the full initial > series--which, > personally, i think is effective for life, too, tho research hasn't been > done to confim this. even with that research, that's how vaccines SHOULD > work in all species, plus there's lots of anecdotal evidence of negatives > living with positives for years without getting regular vaccinations never > getting sick. > > remember, again, that cats who test negative CAN, indeed, retest positive > later on--doesn't mean they were negative at all, just that they were > tested > before the viral exposure was registering on the test. there are no cases > of > TRULY positive cats (tested twice, with the second test long enough after > the first to remove the possibility of a reaction to exposure.) it's > horrible when it happens, but it happens very infrequently. > > there is absolutely no research that i've seen that says that vaccinating a > positive stresses its immune system out, because until the virus is > activated, FeLVs are not frail, compromised creatures walking around with > smelling salts and hankies. in fact, there is anecdotal evidence from > members of this list that vaccinating positives STRENGTHENS their immune > response, as evidenced by their seeming to have much longer life spans than > positives who are not vaccinated.... > > we just have to convince some researchers to follow up on that, and good > luck with that. > > MC > > -- > 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 > -- Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. http://www.rescuties.org Vist the Rescuties stores and save a kitty life! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=rescuties-20 http://www.zazzle.com/rescuties* Buy or renew magazines and help our kitties! http://www.magfundraising.com/rescuties Help us spay some kitties! http://rescuties.chipin.com/feed-hungry-animals "Rather than helping, it's easier to point fingers and say "take them first as long as you leave me alone". _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org