The Importance of Tail Vaccinations
The Importance of Tail Vaccinations
The Importance of Tail Vaccinations
If you vaccinate your cat then it is important that you consider the option of tail vaccinations. Conventional medicine believes vaccinations are necessary for the health of your cat and vaccinations offer you the chance to protect your pet from serious illnesses. However the alternative view is the opposite. If you do give your cat vaccinations then it is important to consider this report.
But did you know that one cat in every 10,000 cats that are given their annual injection develop cancer at the site of the injection. This can mean the start of some expensive treatments which can result in the loss of the limb.
This article looks at the options that are opened to you as a pet owner.
“A new study has found that cats may be better off getting shots in the tail than in the leg, the University of Florida said Oct. 31.
Researchers at the university’s veterinary school found that vaccinations in the tip of the tail were just as effective as the traditional practice of giving shots in the lower leg, and that felines tolerate tail vaccinations at least as well as hind leg injections.
And since some cats develop cancer at the vaccine injection site, it is easier to surgically remove cancer from a tail than a leg, the university said. Often, the only way to remove cancer from a leg is through amputation, a disfiguring, painful and expensive procedure that many cat owners opt to avoid.
Tail vaccinations “are easy to perform and well tolerated by cats, which will hopefully mean that general practitioners will be willing to change their vaccination protocols and try this new location,” said Julius Liptak, a surgery specialist and a founding fellow in surgical oncology with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.
From a cancer treatment perspective, “if vaccinations on the end of the tail become a widely adopted practice, then amputating the tail is a much easier and less traumatic procedure, which will hopefully result in a much greater potential to cure this disease.”
Veterinarian Julie Levy, who led the study, said that one to 10 cats out of every 10,000 vaccinated against infectious diseases develop cancer at the injection site.
“It’s still important to vaccinate because death from these infections is much more common than the cancer, but unfortunately this complication is one that does affect thousands of cats each year,” she said.”
It might sound drastic to many but by changing the site of the injection can save the lives of many cats. The injection site of the leg is favored by many and this needs to change.
If the change in injection site still offers the same protection from the illnesses then there is no reason why there will be any objections.
If there are any problems from cancer from the site of injection removal of the tail is less life changing for the cat than having to have the leg removed.
It is vital that you consider the risks that you are placing on the health of your cat. It is important that you consider the health of your pet and that means that if you follow the conventional view that you should continue your annual injections for your pet.
But you can take the research to your vet and ask them to consider the options of tail vaccinations that are a justifiable option to protect their patients from the possibility of developing cancer in the future.
