Cat Health Tips - Cat Vaccinations

We vaccinate our pets for their own good, believing that if we don't, they'll fall prey to a terrible, incurable disease. Other reasons for vaccination include transmissible diseases, such as distemper and rabies. Vaccinations can help prevent such terrible situations as a human contracting rabies from their pets. At one time, the basic vaccinations for pets were for rabies and distemper alone. Now, vaccinations for cat health number well over five different vaccines in most locations and up to eight in others. Interestingly enough, the rate of new diseases in cats has increased despite these vaccines.

Today, many veterinarians skilled in cat health suggest shots for distemper in felines, Chlamydia, and one to prevent an upper respiratory infection known as rhinotracheitis, to name but a few. All of these vaccines are repeated year after year for the lifespan of your cat. Are our cats getting too much of what we believe to be a good thing? Think about it. Would you want to be vaccinated for chicken pox every year of your life? One would think there would be some adverse effects from too much vaccination. Reports show that most of the illnesses that veterinarians deal with on a daily basis have roots in over-vaccination. Homeopathy has a term for this: Vaccinosis.

In Celeste Yarnall's book Cat Care, Naturally, Dr. Jeff Levy, DVM explains the evolution of new diseases that stem from vaccinosis: "I believe that feline leukemia evolved because of vaccination for panleukopenia. Then with the vaccination for feline leukemia, the cat just came up with a different disease, FIV (Feline AIDS). You can see this in vaccinated cats that later turn up with all the symptoms of feline leukemia but still test negative. The disease is coming from the cat, and each subsequent incarnation that is necessitated by vaccination."

Allopathic medicine and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry are as harmful to our pets as it is to us. The same companies who are selling the vaccines fund the schools that are training new veterinarians. Only a handful of veterinarians are brave enough to dare to step outside those boundaries and practice holistic medicine on animals. Over the years, humans have suffered as well from over-vaccination. Leukemia, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and many other diseases are a result of the negative effects of vaccination.

Yarnell also quotes studies of the smallpox vaccine in humans as having been harmful. She claims, "Smallpox (along with other infectious diseases, including diphtheria and scarlet fever) declined with sanitation reforms instituted in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Government health records from all over the world showed that, during the most intensive periods of vaccination, the incidence and death rate attributed to smallpox increased, though these statistics were actually on the decline when vaccination began."

What should you do when it comes to taking the choice of having your pet vaccinated? Your veterinarian remains the authority on what is best in areas of cat health, and you should discuss vaccination needs with him or her. You can also try to find a veterinarian who is skilled in practicing holistic medicine to discuss alternatives for a healthier life for your pet. In the end, though, until more studies show that vaccinations are overused and not always necessary, always follow your veterinarian's advice.