Which vaccine to choose

Tagrendy

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Hi, my cat is going to get vaccinated in 3 days. They have 2 options - Nobivac Tricat Trio and Fellocell. I've been trying to research to see which one is better, but can't really understand much of the medical literature. Do any of you know of these vaccines? Does it matter which one is given?
 

molly92

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Great question! Both of these are modified-live vaccines, which are less likely than adjuvanted vaccines to cause sarcomas, which is good! From briefly researching them, I can't find any major differences between the two, so it probably does not matter. I'd ask the vet to see if there's a reason to choose one over the other.
 

white shadow

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A few thoughts for you......

I have seen a number of reports on this site of (some very) adverse reactions to Felocell, so personally, I'd reject that one out of hand. You might consider using the site search function for Felocell.

The Nobivac is a non-adjuvanted vaccine, so it passes my own primary test for acceptability...you could search here for it, too.

I suspect you're in the UK......just ensure no vaccine is ever given in a cat's scruff. They should be given in a leg, as far away from the body core as possible. I'll never understand why, when the rest of the global veterinary community has adopted the no-scruff protocol, British Vets stubbornly cling to the old, proven dangerous, model.

Here's a plain-language coverage of feline vaccination from a holistic cat-Vet: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating - Lisa Pierson DVM. There's a picture about halfway down that page that graphically demonstrates the potential of scruff vaccination.

Hope that helps !
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Tagrendy

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Great question! Both of these are modified-live vaccines, which are less likely than adjuvanted vaccines to cause sarcomas, which is good! From briefly researching them, I can't find any major differences between the two, so it probably does not matter. I'd ask the vet to see if there's a reason to choose one over the other.
A difference I noticed is probably nothing, but with Nobivac it's worded as reduces clinical signs of __, while Fellocell was worded as prevents __names of diseases. Not sure if this means much, just jumped out to me at first glance.
I know as a kitten he was vaccinated with Fellocell, no side effects happened then. The vet said there is no difference, but when I asked the vet if they have vaccine for leukemia, they said 'there is no such thing as vaccine for leukemia' so I trust what people say here more :rolleyes:
 
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Tagrendy

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I suspect you're in the UK......just ensure no vaccine is ever given in a cat's scruff. They should be given in a leg, as far away from the body core as possible. I'll never understand why, when the rest of the global veterinary community has adopted the no-scruff protocol, British Vets stubbornly cling to the old, proven dangerous, model.
Thanks for the info! I'm not in UK, but I'll definitely ask where they are going to give the shot and hope they'll say leg. Because suggesting them what to do will definitely be problematic, they get offended even from being asked questions.
 

molly92

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A difference I noticed is probably nothing, but with Nobivac it's worded as reduces clinical signs of __, while Fellocell was worded as prevents __names of diseases. Not sure if this means much, just jumped out to me at first glance.
I know as a kitten he was vaccinated with Fellocell, no side effects happened then. The vet said there is no difference, but when I asked the vet if they have vaccine for leukemia, they said 'there is no such thing as vaccine for leukemia' so I trust what people say here more :rolleyes:
Both provide immunity to panleukopenia (aka distemper), and that's what's important. The reason the wording is weird is probably because these vaccines are not very good at preventing the other two diseases in the trio, herpes and calicivirus. The vaccines generally reduce symptoms, not prevent infection completely. But, it's not that big a deal, because those viruses just cause cat colds-not life threatening like distemper is! The distemper part of the vaccine has been proven to be very effective and reliable, which is great because that is so contagious and dangerous. I think it will come down to which company has a better track record for quality control, if there is a difference at all.

There is a vaccine for FeLV, but it's always debatable whether it's worth getting it. It's not a very contagious disease, especially if your cat isn't regularly in contact with other FeLV positive cats. Interesting they didn't know about it, but maybe it's just not a common kitten shot in your area for some reason?
 
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Tagrendy

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So we got vaccinated today, for core vaccine & rabies together.

I asked to inject from the leg, but the vet said that if vaccine contains rabies vaccine too, it's protocol to do from the back. Not sure if that was right, but I let her do from the back.

It's been a few hours, everything seems normal. The cat behaves completely the same, I thought he is supposed to get a bit sick, but maybe it's too soon to tell.

We decided to go with Fellocell, because the vet also said the 2 companies are pretty much the same in quality, and the cat was already vaccinated with Fellocell before and had no adverse effects then. Felt like a safe option to go with what was already used.
 
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Tagrendy

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It's 11th day of the vaccination, yesterday I noticed the cat is sleeping way too much & is off. Later I remembered that some people reported "delayed vaccine reaction" with this vaccine and that on 8th day is when the cat starts to be lethargic & have high temperature. I went to check the cat's nose & ears while he was asleep, and sure enough, they were hotter than normal.

Today in the morning everything was back to normal for an hour - no temperature, highly active, but now it's back to being off.

I think it's because the vaccine was given with rabies the same day. I'm waiting for now to see if it's getting better or worse to determine if I should take him to vet, he is still in quarantine and the clinic is full of sick animals.
 

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I think it’s worth considering whether your cat is sick from something unrelated to the vaccine - vaccine reactions are rare (especially almost 2 weeks later), and cat “colds” are common. Additionally, cats cool themselves partially through their ears, so their ears can feel warm when their body temperature is normal. If I were you I’d give him a day or two and if it gets much worse call the vet.
 
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