Animal Welfare Professionals

I have looked at the FVRCP vaccination protocols and discussions, but I am still not sure about vaccinating kittens. My original question would have been: do kittens need 3 FVRPC vax, or is 2 enough? But now I see the recommendation is the first one 1 at 4 weeks, then a booster in 2 weeks and every 2 weeks until 20 weeks. old. That would be 9 vaccines! That can't be right. Of course I want the kittens to be properly vaccinated but I was also trying to keep costs down. Thank you.

#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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Betsy Ballenger
President
Cat Action Team
Charlottesville, VA
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At the Catio Cat Lounge and Nashville Cat Rescue, they will accept cats with two FVRCP shots into their programs for adoption.  In some cases, they will allow just one, but usually 2 is the norm.  For Rabies, kittens must be over 12 weeks to receive her in TN and that is also a requirement for the adoption program with both rescues.   However, I am not a vet tech or vet so cannot actually say what the requirement is for cats and kittens.  This, I just copied and pasted from "Catster" website.

	Boosters
FVRCP (core)	Starting at 6–8 weeks of age, administer every 3–4 weeks until 16–20 weeks of age (3–4 total vaccinations)	Two doses, 3–4 weeks apart if greater than 16 weeks	Booster once annually, then every 3 years

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Cynthia Williams
Board Member
CATIO CAT LOUNGE INC
TN
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Hello!
Koret Shelter Medicine has some resources that could be helpful here. 

"Kittens should be vaccinated starting at 4-6 weeks of age and revaccinated every 2-4 weeks until 18 -20 weeks of age (start at the earlier end of age range and use the shorter interval when infectious disease risk is high). "

You can also find information surrounding Vaccination in Shelter Animal Populations on ASPCApro here. 

Hope this was helpful! 

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Debra Olmedo
RVT
Patitas y Palabras
CA
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We do this too. Our kittens are being pulled from the street and are vaccinated upon intake or when they hit 4-5 weeks. If they are in a foster home by themselves and healthy, we boost about every 3 weeks. If they are coming from a really ill colony or area, or in a foster with another litter or a trapper with a high volume of cats moving through, they are boosted every two weeks or so. We don't do adoptions and transfer out our kittens to a fabulous shelter partner, so two vaccines on board at 2 pounds is attractive to them and moves them along faster. 

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Karen Jealous
PDX Cat Trapper
Portland OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-28-2024 02:51 PM
From: Debra Olmedo
Subject: FVRCP vaccinations for kittens

Hello!
Koret Shelter Medicine has some resources that could be helpful here. 

"Kittens should be vaccinated starting at 4-6 weeks of age and revaccinated every 2-4 weeks until 18 -20 weeks of age (start at the earlier end of age range and use the shorter interval when infectious disease risk is high). "

You can also find information surrounding Vaccination in Shelter Animal Populations on ASPCApro here. 

Hope this was helpful! 

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Debra Olmedo
RVT
Patitas y Palabras
CA
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We operate out of private foster homes, but we also have a small intake area. We vaccinate at 8 weeks, then if it aligns with the schedule, the second one is done when the kitten gets fixed, otherwise it's 21-28 days. Once fixed, and they go up for adoption, we inform the adopter of the vaccines still due, but we don't take responsibility for that since they're supposed to take the kitten to the vet.  If not adopted, we will do the 3rd fvrcp (3-way, we don't do chlamydia.)
Having said that, if we were doing high volume intake, which we have in the past, we will do healthy 6 week old kittens and we have vaccinated two weeks apart. We don't vaccinate based upon weight. If a kitten is sick, we don't vaccinate.

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Candy Sullivan
Managing Director
Candy's Cats, Inc.
FL
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Thank you to everyone who has responded.

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Betsy Ballenger
President
Cat Action Team
Charlottesville, VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2024 05:21 AM
From: Candy Sullivan
Subject: FVRCP vaccinations for kittens

We operate out of private foster homes, but we also have a small intake area. We vaccinate at 8 weeks, then if it aligns with the schedule, the second one is done when the kitten gets fixed, otherwise it's 21-28 days. Once fixed, and they go up for adoption, we inform the adopter of the vaccines still due, but we don't take responsibility for that since they're supposed to take the kitten to the vet.  If not adopted, we will do the 3rd fvrcp (3-way, we don't do chlamydia.)
Having said that, if we were doing high volume intake, which we have in the past, we will do healthy 6 week old kittens and we have vaccinated two weeks apart. We don't vaccinate based upon weight. If a kitten is sick, we don't vaccinate.

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Candy Sullivan
Managing Director
Candy's Cats, Inc.
FL
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Hi Betsy:

At Palmetto Animal League, we have both in-house kittens and kittens out in foster. If they are out of the building in foster care, we vaccinate with FVCRP every 3-ish weeks (it depends on our schedule and when we can have them come back for vaccination); if they are housed in the shelter, we vaccinate every 2 weeks until the kittens are 16 weeks of age. Whenever possible, we try to keep kittens in foster until they are 10-12 weeks old before they come back to stay at the shelter. They usually get adopted quickly enough that they don't end up receiving a tremendous number of vaccines.

Hope that is helpful!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
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We follow the AAFP vaccination guidelines. When they get adopted at 8 weeks of age it is only 3 vaccinations. Definitely worth the investment to prevent illness. Each following vaccine should be done within 14-21 days.

Wendy

HSCO

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Wendy Arnold
Animal Programs Manager
Humane Society of Central Oregon
OR
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Hi Betsy, 

Thank you for asking this question - I found this thread as we (TAILS) are going through the same discussions on protocols with our cats/kittens. (We're a small all-volunteer spay/neuter group - we do a lot of TNR and ~250 adoptions a year).  

I have a piggy-back question if that's okay?  I would like to know what brand FVRCP vaccine are groups using?  We're a member of a number of the great reduced-cost shelter medicine programs - Shelters United, Revival, Zoetis for Shelters....and there are a lot of vaccine options out there.  We'd like to get the Vanguard RCP  from Zoetis- but it's labeled not to administer to under 12 weeks of age...

Suggestions, please?

Thank you for all of this information - super helpful!

Dorrie Harris

President

TAILS

Connecticut

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Dorrie Harris
President
TAILS The Alliance In Limiting Strays
CT
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Hi Betsy,

Those are for kittens in the shelter.  Kittens in foster won't need that many.  Current recommendations for kittens housed outside the shelter are every 3-4 weeks after the first vaccine.

Thank you for your question!

Marnie

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Marnie Russ
Founder, Program Administrator
Kitten College
VA
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