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Old 05-20-2009, 06:37 AM   #14
PennysMum
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Redmond, Washington
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One thing to insist on, if your vet is not doing it already-- do NOT allow vaccines to be given directly behind the shoulder blades, as a lot of "old school" vets do it. At the clinic where I work, our vets give the vaccines lower down so that they are actually over one of the limbs, and spread them out one vaccine per limb. It may sound horrible to say this, but the reasoning is that if the pet DOES develop a sarcoma due to a vaccine and it is over a limb, if it has progressed to the point where a simple mass removal isn't possible, the limb could be amputated and the animal's life could be saved. The last place I worked, the vet gave the vaccines over the animals' backs, and we did have one cat develop a tumor. Surgery was done, but we couldn't remove enough tissue to save her, and she had to be euthanized a few months down the road.

All that said, I've been working in the field for seven years now, and that is the only animal that I have ever seen develop a vaccination site sarcoma. It isn't common at all. I'm not in favor of forgoing vaccinations entirely, like some people argue, but rather either following AAHA guidelines which call for vaccinating every three years rather than yearly, or performing titer tests. There's no reason to vaccinate more than is necessary, especially indoor cats (cats have a much, much, much higher risk of sarcomas than other animals).
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