Vaccinations and nosodes.

Obviously we all want to do everything possible to prevent our pets becoming ill.  Part of this is the care we give animals at home.  Things like making sure litter trays are cleaned and disinfected regularly, washing food and water bowls between each use, and keeping floors and cat furniture clean help to prevent infections, or illness caused by pathogens.  Caring for our cats correctly by providing a good quality, appropriate diet, plenty of fresh water, play and affection help by promoting strong bodies, healthy teeth and coats, and effective immune systems.

The other side to disease prevention is of course vaccinations.  All our cats are annually vaccinated against Feline Enteritis (FIE), and Feline Influenza (FCV/FVR).  We ask that if you become a family to one of our kittens that you continue this.  The vaccinations, administered by injection by your vet, are a very quick and straight forward process.  You may notice that your cat is a little sleepy or groggy for the evening after the injection, but it’s rare that any serious side effects are experienced.

We have only recently discovered homeopathic combination nosodes.  These are a homeopathic method of disease preventions.  The tiny pilules (small tablets) are made using small amounts of tissue from diseased animals.  Whilst this sounds really quite distasteful, there is no risk to the cat being treated at all. The preparation process renders the substance completely harmless.

The spectrum of diseases which are addressed by this treatment is far wider than that which veterinary science is able to inoculate against.  The combination nosode that we use protects against the following; Rhinotracheitis, Feline Peritonitis, Feline Enteritis, Calici Virus, Feline Leukaemia, Feline Chlamydia, Feline T-lymphotropic Virus.  Nosodes are also safe to give to kittens from the age of three weeks – much earlier than inoculations.  We believe this gives our kittens a stronger start in life.

When Kat first introduced me to the idea of nosodes, I was thrilled to find out there was something out there that could affordably be used to guard against all these illnesses.  We had just lost our darling Neo to Feline Infectious Peritonitis.  Not only is there no treatment available for FIP, but no conventional vaccine either.  It is also virtually impossible to protect against the disease in any other ways.  A large percentage of domestic cats carry the harmless corona virus, which can spontaneously mutate into the deadly form, causing degeneration of the central nervous system.  We felt so helpless and heartbroken at what had happened with Neo that we immediately decided to treat all of our cats with nosodes.

Nosodes are similar to vaccines in that they sensitise the body to a particular virus, meaning that if exposed naturally to the pathogen, the immune system is able to react efficiently.

However, the difference lies in the fact that conventional vaccination exposed the immune system to that actual disease, whereas homeopathic nosodes give exposure to an inert structure of the disease, without introducing foreign substances into the body.

With vaccines, either live organisms or chemically killed bacteria are injected directly into the blood stream.  This is an unnatural route of infection.  Homeopathic veterinarians believe that this represents such an assault on the system as to potentially cause harm.  This could either be irregularities in the immune system which can then present as chronic disease, or auto-immune problems resulting in conditions such as chronic skin allergies.

All kittens will have had their initial vaccinations when they leave us.  You then need to keep up the annual booster injections to maintain the effect.  The kittens will also have been treated with nosodes, and we will provide a dosing schedule, further information and a supply of nosodes for you to try this method for yourself should you choose to.

As we show our cats, their vaccinations do need to be kept up to date, and until there is more documented study of the effectiveness of nosodes, we are not prepared to take the risk of giving up inoculations.

However, we are enthusiastic about the use of homeopathic nosodes, and homeopathy itself is a well used and accepted form of medicine.  Therefore, for the time being we will continue to use both methods.

Along with caring for and feeding our cats to the best of our abilities, we feel that this method will give them the best resistance to disease, and general good health.