Cat Vaccinations: It All Began at 2 Months Old
For your kitten, it all started at just 2 months of age. Preventive care was already underway with your veterinarian.
Your cat’s vaccination schedule will continue, and the plan for protection against internal and external parasites may also change over time. You will also need to start thinking about neutering or spaying your cat. Your pet’s health and comfort are at stake.
Depending on your kitten’s lifestyle, your veterinarian will already have set up the protocol for the core vaccines (RCP).
A Quick Reminder About Kitten Vaccination
Starting at 8 weeks of age, then every 4 weeks until 16 weeks, your kitten will receive a vaccine injection. Vaccination is essential to support the proper development of the immune response.
A vaccine based on the RCP valences will be given between 6 months and 1 year of age, as close to 6 months as possible.
Other vaccines may also have been introduced already, including FeLV, Chlamydiosis, and rabies. The next boosters will generally be due between 1 and 2 years of age.
Parasite-control protocols for kittens usually reach their end at 6 months of age, covering protection against fleas, worms, and cat ticks. This is especially important because of the risk linked to maternal transmission of roundworms.
By now, the kitten has discovered its surroundings and started to make sense of them. Cats are naturally curious animals.
Its lifestyle is now close to what it will be as an adult. That means a review of the risks is needed, because this is what will help determine the most suitable future parasite treatment.
Cat Parasites: Assess the Risks
Two main reasons explain why parasite management changes once your cat reaches 6 months of age.
First, from birth to 6 months, the kitten may have been exposed through its mother during nursing. In cats, unlike dogs, in utero transmission does not occur in the case of roundworms.
Because of the specific development cycle of roundworms, which are the main target of treatment in young animals, a strict protocol is maintained until 6 months of age.
From 6 months onward, the cat’s lifestyle begins to change. It may already be comfortable in its daily environment and may even have access to the outdoors, which can increase the risk of contamination.
As your cat gets older, the risks associated with parasite exposure will change. It is therefore important to reassess the situation so that the most appropriate preventive treatment can be prescribed.
This treatment will also depend on the circumstances of the household, especially whether it includes people who may be at higher risk:
– young children,
– women planning a pregnancy,
– immunocompromised people,
– older adults.
During the consultation after the animal reaches 6 months, it is therefore essential to reassess lifestyle and exposure risks. This makes it possible to manage parasite risk as effectively as possible until the next check-up, around 1 year and 3 to 4 months of age.
As at every stage of life, it is especially important to tell your veterinarian about any changes. They should be informed, for example, if there is a pregnancy plan, since cats can carry Toxoplasma, the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis. In the event of pregnancy, the medical team will give all the advice needed to reduce the risks as much as possible.
Spaying or Neutering Your Cat: Start Thinking About It Around 5 Months
At 5 months, as your kitten approaches puberty, it is time to ask yourself whether spaying or neutering is the right choice.
Having kittens, even once in a cat’s lifetime, is by no means something that must happen. That idea is one of those long-standing misconceptions that still persists.
If you do not intend to breed your cat, spaying or neutering offers clear advantages—and more importantly, health benefits for the cat. These benefits concern both health and behaviour.
Cat Spaying and Neutering: Be Careful and Consistent
Your kitten should be sterilised only when the reproductive system is properly developed anatomically.
In any case, the procedure should be performed on an animal with sound overall development: the cat should not be overweight at the time of sterilisation, as this is a contraindication.
Beyond preventing unwanted pregnancy, sterilisation has other advantages, including positive behavioural changes. When carried out before the first heat cycle in females, it significantly reduces the risk of mammary tumours, which are particularly aggressive in queens.
You have everything to gain by having your cat sterilised. First, an unplanned litter can be difficult to manage. You need to think about the time required for the kittens, what will become of them, and how they will be placed.
Then there are the health benefits for the cat itself. Indeed, a neutered male or a spayed female is protected against certain diseases:
– Mammary tumours.
– Mastitis.
– Metritis or pyometra in females.
– Prostate disorders and testicular tumours in males.
Spaying or neutering also helps reduce the risk of roaming, which can otherwise lead to accidents and fights.
It may also reduce urine marking, and in some cases stop it altogether.
Hormonal contraception through medication is possible, but it is generally not recommended because of the risk of significant side effects.
There is also a contraceptive implant placed under the skin without anaesthesia. It offers an alternative to permanent sterilisation.
Spaying and Neutering: What About Weight Gain?
Sterilisation can indeed cause a cat to gain a little weight. However, the right diet and regular physical activity are usually enough to restore balance and help keep the cat at a healthy weight.
Important: the contraceptive implant for cats does not have marketing authorisation, and like the pill for cats, it may still cause side effects, sometimes serious ones.
Fighting Abandonment and Stray Cats
French people love cats. There is no doubt about that. Figures from Facco (the French Federation of Manufacturers of Food for Dogs, Cats, Birds and Other Companion Animals) show it clearly: over ten years, the feline population grew by nearly 4 million, rising from 10.7 million in 2008 to 14.2 million in 2018. In addition, 30.7% of French households have at least one cat.
But France also holds another record. A sad one this time: more than 100,000 abandonments per year, combining dogs and cats.
Shelters and charities are often overwhelmed by waves of abandoned cats. It is also not uncommon for veterinarians to find kittens left at the clinic door early in the morning.
Stray cats are another major issue. Loïc Dombreval, a veterinarian and member of parliament, co-author of the bill to combat animal cruelty presented on 26 January 2021 at the French National Assembly, is among those campaigning to make sterilisation of stray cats mandatory.
“The state must support local authorities and mayors,” he said on France Info on 26/01/2021 when discussing the sterilisation of stray cats. Many cats are also abandoned in the countryside and then reproduce.
“There are also veterinarians who carry out this work at very preferential rates as part of their animal welfare efforts. Of course, volunteers do incredible work. (…) This is a health issue. First and foremost, it is an issue of the animal’s living conditions, which cannot be left as they are.”
Cats are highly prolific animals; depending on the breed, a female can have up to 4 litters a year, with an average of 4 kittens per litter.
Dr. Ludovic Freyburger
Teacher and consultant in preventive medicine at VetAgro Sup (Lyon veterinary school).
President of the preventive medicine study group of AFVAC (Association de Formation des Vétérinaires pour Animaux de Compagnie).
Veterinary training director at Compagnie des Animaux / SantéVet.