There is great controversy over vaccinating Savannahs for Feline Leukemia. Many breeders will say that you cannot vaccinate them for it because they will contract the disease and die. As the longest standing breeder of the Savannah we have always vaccinated for the disease, yet have not ever had an individual contract the disease from doing so. I have spent time scouring the web in search of accounts of this happening. However, I come up with nothing. This leads me to wonder where the stigma comes from? The best I can deduce is that it is a cross-over concern based on some feeling that vaccinating with modified-live vaccinations will cause the individual to contract the disease.
Vaccinating Savannahs against Feline Leukemia
In my online research, I came across some interesting facts about the disease itself, as well as the vaccine. What surprised me the most was research stating that 40% of cats that are exposed to the disease will be able to mount a defense and fight it off. I was under the impression that exposure was a certain death sentence. I also found that only 80% of the individuals vaccinated for the disease will go through a proper immune response to the vaccine and therefore be protected from the disease. Another interesting research article I came across stated that about half of the kittens in the particular study that were vaccinated with a modified-live version of the vaccine had transient bone marrow infection that lasted 2 to 4 weeks (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/230767). However these individuals did not shed the virus in their feces or saliva, so they were not at risk of spreading the virus.
Could the rumors of the vaccine causing the disease actually be caused by something else? Is it possible that an individual vaccinated for the disease was one of the 20% that didn’t develop immunity and then was exposed to the virus and contracted the disease? Could it be from a bone marrow test showing a positive infection, even though it was likely short-lived and not a danger to other cats? I feel these are reasonable questions to consider.
We know that Feline Leukemia is the number one disease that kills cats. Studies claim that one in three stray cats carry the disease. So which risk is greater – your cat contracting the disease from the vaccination or your cat escaping from the house at some point and coming in contact with a stray cat that is carrying the disease? As a breeder, I would not be comfortable selling kittens from a population of unvaccinated cats. All of our breeding cats are vaccinated against the disease. All kittens being retained for our breeding program are vaccinated for the first time at 16 and 19 weeks of age. In regard to pet owners, I recommend visiting with your vet about it and making the decision with which you feel the most comfortable.