I would like to know if Ozbargainers would spend money on getting their pets vaccinated & flea/worm treatments if the pet is purely indoors only?
Is It Necessary to Vaccinate/Flea & Tick Treat Indoor Only Cat?
Mary Poppins on 21/05/2023 - 12:58
Comments
Yes, they can still get fleas and worms (especially if you don't take your shoes off inside) so you should use a flea/all wormer treatment. I didn't think I needed to either but the cat got ravenously hungry all the sudden despite diet not changing, so I figure he might have had worms. I could not figure out how to get my cat to swallow pills without feeling like an (profanity), so I use the topical treatment behind the neck. After treatment he stopped getting so hungry.
Plus $10 a month to hedge against the possibility of fleas for your own sake is worth it.
Wow… I did not know that could be possible. Thank you 😊
Vaccinate yes, if cat doesn't get fleas them don't worry, ez.
I had an indoor only cat. They caught feline chlamydia through neighbours cat coming by the porch.
So many feline diseases are highly infectious and can be passed through them spitting and marking.
My Wyze cam picks up the neighbour cat milling around the porch at night, then people walk over the porch inside the house, so it's not hard to see how things can get inside. If this were a farm people would have to scrub their rubber boots with disinfectant before coming in to stop the spread of disease.
The last thing you want is that cat to get rabies. SO VACCINATE THE CAT
Vaccination is the reason why rabies is now so less severe case (that people can be saved as long as they/animals are shot vaccine soon after contracting it)
Thankfully there's no rabies in Australia so you don't need to worry about that. But you should still get at least the f3 vaccine, even if the cat doesn't go outside there's no way to stop you from accidentally tracking the virus in on your shoes.
A vet once told me to invest in quality food over vaccination for an indoor cat. I also would only treat fleas for an indoor cat if you can see them (it would be very hard for an indoor only cat to get fleas)
Vaccinate, 100%. Fleas and worms will depend a bit on what you bring in. If you work outdoors, with animals etc, or they are on a raw diet, do it. Otherwise maybe not. Mine are indoor + enclosure so they get the whole kaboodle (or will, the young man has a bad UTI after a blockage so his meds will wait til all the other meds are done).
Yes, you should. It's a small thing to give them added protection. Speak to your vet about a suitable plan.