If you have recently purchased or adopted a kitten from someone, you must know that you have called a huge responsibility for yourself. Being a pet owner is a full-time job that you must do without dodging. There is a possibility of not knowing your utmost duties when you own a cat, but you learn everything over time. Among other important responsibilities, one is vaccination. It would help if you got your kitten/cat vaccinated as per the proposed schedules.
If you do not know the vaccinations your kitten/cat needs or how much the cat shots cost, you need not worry. This article provides you with valuable and helpful information regarding the vaccines your kitten/cat needs and how much they would cost you on average! So let’s get started!
The essential vaccines your kitten/cat needs
Some vaccines are compulsory (core vaccines) for your kitten/cat, while others are optional (non-core vaccines). The compulsory vaccines protect your pet from the commonest and spreading deadly diseases. However, it would be better if your cat gets vaccinated with optional ones as well so that the chances of catching any illness declines to zero, given that you get them vaccinated on time.
Following are the essential vaccines (core vaccines) that your kitten requires in the first year of life;
The 3-in-1 FVRCP
It is one of the core vaccines that your kitten needs in its first year of life, or else it would get exposed to the deadly viruses which cause these diseases. The 3-in-1 FVRCP protects your cat from feline viral rhinotracheitis, feline calicivirus, and feline panleukopenia virus.
The feline panleukopenia virus is a parvovirus infection that leads to deadly hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. In layman terms, you can understand this virus affects your cat’s digestive tract and produces extreme infection. If the infection worsens, your cat’s gut will bleed internally, leading to extreme loss of blood and death.
The feline calicivirus usually does not attack alone to your cat; it works better with the feline herpes virus. But, unfortunately, both viruses work effectively to cause deleterious cat flu!
Your cat would not only suffer from nasal symptoms like nasal discharge and sneezing but also eye-related symptoms like eye discharge and conjunctivitis (which makes your cat’s eye extremely red and bloody.). These symptoms might subside if the immune system of the cat is strong. However, the recurrence rate is high!
These viruses are contagious and spread through airborne droplets when an infected cat sneezes around the healthy one.
The proposed timetable for FVRCP is; 1st dose at 8th week, 2nd dose at 12th week, 3rd dose at 16th week, and then 4th dose at 1st year of life. Later, you have to get your cat vaccinated with FVRCP every three years.
Feline Rabies vaccine
Rabies is another deadly disease caused by the Rabies virus. It can affect both cats and dogs and spread through the saliva of an infected animal. If your cat has caught the Rabies virus, unfortunately, and does not contain antibodies to fight against the virus, you would see signs and symptoms like headaches, fear of water/light, seizures, lethargy, etc.
However, it would help if you remembered that you have to get your cat vaccinated with the feline rabies vaccine and not the canine one.
The proposed timetable for the Feline Rabies vaccine says that your cat needs the vaccine every year.
Other non-core vaccines available for your cat
In addition to the core vaccinations that your cat needs, the non-core or optional vaccinations are following;
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The FeLV vaccine
Feline leukemia virus is contagious and spread through sharing feeding bowls or playing/fighting with infected cats. Your cat may suffer from declining immunity and blood loss after encountering minor trauma. Besides, your cat may develop lymphoma (blood cancer.)
You might think if it is a non-core vaccine, you can avoid it for a while, but it would be best if you get your cat vaccinated against FeLV since it is an extremely deadly disease, with maximum cats contracting the virus, die!
The proposed FelV vaccine timetable; 1st dose at nine weeks of age (if your vet recommends), 2nd dose after 3-4 weeks. You can consider the booster doses if there is an exposure risk.
Chlamydophila Felis vaccine
If you have got multiple cats at your place and observe that they get conjunctivitis very often, you must think about the Chlamydofila felis bacteria. It usually affects kittens/cats living together in a small place. If your cat is living in an environment where multiple cats are present, you must follow the timetable given below.
Here is the proposed Chlamydophila Felis vaccine timetable; 1st dose at 8th or 9th week and 2nd dose after 3 to 4 weeks of the 1st dose.
Bordetella vaccine
Another bacterium named Bordetella can cause upper respiratory tract infection in your cat. The disease produces symptoms like sneezing, coughing, nasal discharges, etc. Usually, stressed cats are vulnerable to catching bacteria.
You do not have to get your cat vaccinated against Bordetella if there is no exposure. However, if the cat is living in multiple-cat environments, then you must administer the Bordetella vaccine.
How much are kitten shots?
We cannot calculate exactly how much the cat vaccination shots cost because the prices vary from country to country, city to city, and vet to vet. Besides, whether you have purchased or adopted the cat matters as well. We can estimate the price on an average for the core vaccines of your cat; however, you must keep in mind that different vet clinics might charge you additional amounts for their services.
On average, the 3-in-1 FVRCP vaccine can cost around 35$ and the Rabies vaccine around 20$. However, the FeLV vaccine can cost nearly 34$.
If you have got a cat for free, which means you have not purchased it, you would need to have around 250$ for its first year of life. The amount covers all the core vaccinations, feeding, testing, etc.
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In conclusion
Getting your cat vaccinated at the right time can save it from catching deadly illnesses. Although, undeniably, vaccinations cost a good amount of money, however, it saves you from the hefty expenses if your cat gets sick. Therefore, it is your utmost duty to get your cat pet vaccinated according to the followed timetables.
In this article, we have tried our best to brief you about what vaccinations are available for your cat, the core and non-core vaccines, and how much kitten/cat shots cost! Hopefully, it will prove helpful!
