Response of feral cats to vaccination at the time of neutering

To determine whether administration of inactivated virus or modified-live virus (MLV) vaccines to feral cats at the time of neutering induces protective serum antiviral antibody titers. Prospective study. 61 feral cats included in a trap-neuter-return program in Florida. Each cat received vaccines a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Vol. 230; no. 1; pp. 52 - 58
Main Authors:	Fischer, S.M, Quest, C.M, Dubovi, E.J, Davis, R.D, Tucker, S.J, Friary, J.A, Crawford, P.C, Ricke, T.A, Levy, J.K
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 2007
Subjects:	Animals Animals, Wild Antibodies, Viral - blood antibody formation Castration - veterinary cat diseases Cat Diseases - prevention & control cats Cats - surgery contraception disease control programs disease prevention Felid herpesvirus 1 Feline calicivirus Feline leukemia virus Feline panleukopenia virus Female feral animals immune response immunity inactivated vaccines live vaccines Male modified-live virus vaccines Prospective Studies Rabies virus Time Factors trapping vaccination Vaccination - veterinary Vaccines, Combined - administration & dosage Vaccines, Combined - immunology Vaccines, Inactivated - administration & dosage Vaccines, Inactivated - immunology viral diseases of animals and humans Viral Vaccines - administration & dosage Viral Vaccines - immunology Virus Diseases - prevention & control Virus Diseases - veterinary Florida
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Summary:	To determine whether administration of inactivated virus or modified-live virus (MLV) vaccines to feral cats at the time of neutering induces protective serum antiviral antibody titers. Prospective study. 61 feral cats included in a trap-neuter-return program in Florida. Each cat received vaccines against feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline herpes virus (FHV), feline calicivirus (FCV), FeLV, and rabies virus (RV). Immediately on completion of surgery, vaccines that contained inactivated RV and FeLV antigens and either MLV or inactivated FPV, FHV, and FCV antigens were administered. Titers of antiviral antibodies (except those against FeLV) were assessed in serum samples obtained immediately prior to surgery and approximately 10 weeks later. Prior to vaccination, some of the cats had protective serum antibody titers against FPV (33%), FHV (21%), FCV (64%), and RV (3%). Following vaccination, the overall proportion of cats with protective serum antiviral antibody titers increased (FPV [90%], FHV [56%], FCV [93%], and RV [98%]). With the exception of the FHV vaccine, there were no differences in the proportions of cats protected with inactivated virus versus MLV vaccines. Results suggest that exposure to FPV, FHV, and FCV is common among feral cats and that a high proportion of cats are susceptible to RV infection. Feral cats appeared to have an excellent immune response following vaccination at the time of neutering. Incorporation of vaccination into trap-neuter-return programs is likely to protect the health of individual cats and possibly reduce the disease burden in the community.
Bibliography:	http://www.avma.org/ ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0003-1488 1943-569X
DOI:	10.2460/javma.230.1.52