Note: I used my own experience to write this article but also relied heavily on the information found at wikipedia.org. For more information, I suggest you take a look at the wikipedia site, it has interesting links to other site which are more elaborate.

So why would you literally ‘pump’ money into your cat every year? Just to make the vet happy? Hardly. Although vaccinating isn’t fun for anyone, it certainly has its benefits. Indoor cats are usually vaccinated for Feline distemper and if they come from a shelter or have a stray background, they will also be vaccinated against Feline Influenza. Outdoor cats need these two vaccinations plus a shot against Feline Leukemia. So who are these viruses we are protecting our unsuspecting kitties from? And what would happen if we didn’t protect them? And even more frightening…sometimes we won’t be able to protect them.

Here is a list of the 5 feline viruses with severe consequences:

• Feline Distemper aka Feline Panleukopenia
• Cat Flu aka Feline Influenza
• Feline Leukemia
• Feline Infectious Peritonitis aka FIP
• Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, aka FIV

You will find a short description of how the virus works, how it spreads, what it exactly does and what symptoms are involved. Boring? Yeah, to some it will be, but on the other hand…it never hurts to know what’s out there intending to harm your kitty. So, do take a look. I have tried to keep it as superficial as I could, as a summary should be, so you have a clue of what is out there, and what to look for in your kitty.

When I was younger, we had cats. But my mother did not have a lot of money to spend on vaccinations and such, since clothing her kids and saving up to build a house were higher on the priority list. We did not vaccinate them. And we did lose cats to disease. I remember at least two in my childhood, but since I was so young I was not always told what really went on. But on the whole, we were incredibly fortunate considering the risk. Our cats were allowed to roam free, and we had enough strays around to have an entire epidemic in our backyard. Hell, that’s how we got our cats. We took pity on the strays that were hanging around our house. Take into account that my mother took a while to get our sweeties sterilized and therefore we had a lot of kittens in the house, and you can understand the risk we were taking with our cats. Since our cats were not sterilized, and running outdoors, they were at risk of all five of the viruses listed above.

I know several spots where cats aren’t that lucky. Where stray cat colonies are keeping FIV and Feline Leukemia alive. If you are unlucky enough to live near such a colony, and you do not vaccinate nor neuter or sterilize your cat while letting it go outdoors…It is an accident waiting to happen. I have once been told by someone about the neighborhood they lived in. All the people there had cats, then they all died of FIV, now the virus is eradicated, and they all got new cats, he smiled. Personally, I was offended by his tone of voice and his rationalization. But it is reality. And it happens more than you think.