Consensus is a challenging part of scientific work, let alone developing guidelines to cover all the possible needs of any animal. Working together, the AAHA and AAFP tackled the collective needs of felines by updating the feline vaccination guidelines to serve the cat population and account for individualized vaccination protocols.
It’s no longer just indoor cats versus outdoor cats.”
The updated resources maintain the concepts of core and noncore vaccines. The new guidelines further define feline patient populations to determine their specific risk for disease exposure. There is also a section about how to best use in-clinic serology to diagnose disease and, in certain cases, to determine when to vaccinate.
Source: AAHA NEWStat, September 10, 2020. Link. The Task Force recommends vaccines for FHV-1, FCV, FPV, rabies, and FeLV (cats younger than 1 year old) as core vaccines for pet and shelter cats. Non-core vaccines are optional vaccines that should be considered in the light of exposure risk; that is, based on geographic distribution and the lifestyle of the cat. Optional or non-core vaccines for cats include FeLV (for cats older than 1 year), Chlamydia felis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccines.
Also see: 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines, AAHA. Link. The guidelines are complemented by an online resource center at aaha.org/felinevaccination and supplemental materials at catvets.com/vaccinations.
Also see: 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines, JAAHA, September/October 2020. Link.
Also see: 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines, AAFP. Link.