The importance of vaccination in cats
Domestic animals interact day by day with humans, being of great help for our daily life, either as companions-friends that become part of our family, this is the case of the small felines that accompany our lives.
Cats are small monogastric quadrupeds that have been domesticated over the years, since from the beginning they have been categorized as small predators of the animal kingdom, which is why they are prone to bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases that threaten the balance of the different systems that make up the feline's organism. Like many species, when they are born they are defenseless and prone to diseases, hence the need to comply to the letter with the vaccination plan required by the animal.
There are a great variety of diseases that affect cats, for example:
Feline leukemia: disease produced by a retrovirus virus, which can cause significant anemias, types of cancer such as leukemias. The animals that are infected do not always show symptoms, but they can infect those close to them, through bites or substances coming from their body. This pathology can be fatal, therefore it is advisable to vaccinate cats.
Feline viral rhinotracheitis: it is one of the diseases that develop in cats that have not been vaccinated, if they have contact with other infected felines. It is characterized for being produced by the herpesvirus, causing sneezing, tearing and fever. This virus spreads easily, due to the nasal drip of cats.
Feline panleukopenia: caused by feline parvovirus, it affects cats from 3 to 5 months of age, if they have not been vaccinated.
The cat is infected through feces, urine and nasal secretions. It is important to take into account that this virus can survive for one year in places where previously infected cats lived. The most visible symptoms are lethargy, nasal secretions, lack of appetite for food and fevers, even so these symptoms can be confused with other diseases, for this reason the feline should be vaccinated and taken to a veterinarian.
The pathologies described above are one of a large group of diseases that can be contracted by kittens if they are not vaccinated. These pathologies are not zoonotic, but there is always the probability that they will be infected by the rabies virus, which threatens humans, because it is zoonotic.
At what age should we vaccinate our cats?
It is recommended to vaccinate them at nine weeks of life, according to the vaccination plan that your veterinarian believes convenient. For example:
- trivalent; which prevents rhinotracheitis, calcivirus and panleukopenia.
- Leukocell vaccine for feline leukemia.
- The anti-rabies vaccine, which prevents the transmission of rabies.
The importance of administering vaccines to cats lies in offering their immune system an attenuated organism or particle (without virulence) or parts of it, which does not cause severe or marked symptomatology, in order to be recognized by the cells of the immune system and thus create memory for future exposures, thus ensuring that our pet creates antibodies necessary to stay protected from deadly bacteria or viruses.
Vaccination is important but alot of people don't know they can vaccinate cat unlike dogs which everybody knows about. There should be this awearness for the public on need to know the need, for example I as a person don't know that cat can have leukemia and that there is a vaccine to even prevent it.