Rabies Vaccines and Your Cat

At Cochrane Animal Clinic, we are continually striving to provide the most advanced care possible for your pet. Certain brands of rabies vaccines contain an ingredient known as an adjuvant: a chemical that enhances a body’s immune response to a vaccine. With rabies vaccines, this adjuvant allows us to achieve three-year immunity in cats. Recent studies have shown, however, that the adjuvant has been linked to the development of a type of cancer known as fibrosarcoma at the vaccination site, sometimes more than a decade after the vaccine was administered. 

The likelihood of a cat developing cancer at the vaccine site after receiving an adjuvanted rabies vaccine is extremely small. However, in order to eliminate this risk to our patients, we have started using a different brand of rabies vaccine called PureVax. Because this vaccine does not contain an adjuvant, the immunity that develops after the vaccine is given only lasts one year. This means that, effective immediately, cats will be vaccinated annually against rabies. 

In order to eliminate the overall cost increase to the client, we have also switched to a relatively new upper respiratory vaccine for cats that will allow us to give the regular annual vaccines every three years. This vaccine does not contain an adjuvant, but its immunity is still very long-lasting. 

In the past, our rabies vaccines were given every three years and our upper respiratory vaccines were given annually. With our new protocol, the old annual upper respiratory vaccine will be given every three years, and the rabies will be given annually. Please ask your veterinarian if you would like more information on our decision to change vaccine protocols.