It is well known in the veterinary community that an aggressive tumor (fibrosarcoma) may result from any vaccine at its injection site.  Because of this veterinarians have standardized placement of each commonly-used vaccine to track the incidence of this cancer in each vaccine.

It is most seen in leukemia and rabies vaccines.  Incidences range from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000.  This risk seems minimal, but enough cats (including one of mine) have developed this largely untreatable tumor and have died from it, to have created much concern and many reports in the veterinary literature.

Please discuss judicious use of vaccines with your veterinarian.  Current guidelines on vaccines from the American Association of Feline Practitioners are on their website.  Also, educate yourself about which vaccines are required by your county.  In the Portland, Oregon area, only Multnomah County requires a rabies vaccine in cats.

Laura Speirs, Feline Behavior Consultant

I’ve been noticing in recent weeks a distressing decline in the quality of cat foods we thought were of good quality.  I am guessing this is an economic choice by the makers of pet foods.  Rather than name the names of the foods that have changed, I’d recommend you check what’s in your own kitty’s diet.  The acceptable foods’ ingredients should list the first two ingredients as some kind of meat. There should be no corn or by-products on this list.  Looking only at the protein content can be very misleading.  Please don’t trust that!  The protein source should be from MEAT, which cats must eat in order to thrive.  If the first two ingredients on the list are meat and the total protein content is over 35%, you can feel good about the food you’re feeding your cat.

Laura Speirs

Feline Behavior Consultant