The most truthful answer is people that don't handle vaccines for a living don't always know how you're supposed to handle a vaccine. The biggest example of this are feed stores—that's what we run into here. They deal with feed, with all due respect. They have a very important role, but their job is not to vaccinate animals. So when they get a shipment in, they don't know to look to see if that thing was stored below X degrees. The vaccines have to be refrigerated. They have to be stored under refrigeration without fail. Sometimes those things are not there when the vaccines are not from a veterinarian. On the veterinary side, we are ordering from veterinary specific vendors that ship and package them properly. They arrive refrigerated and at the proper temperature, we immediately know how to handle those things. And if ever there's a situation where that shipping process was not satisfactory, we send it back and we get the right shipment to us. So there's no way to get around that. I would never imply that the vaccines from a feed store are ineffective. It's just, I personally want the reassurance and peace of mind to know that they were handled by animal healthcare professionals.

It kind of depends on the age of the kitten, number one, as well as how long of a gap there is. So first off, what do I mean by the age of the kitten? I like all animals, dog or cat, to have at least 2 sets of vaccines after they are 10 weeks of age. I also said earlier that I like to vaccinate every 3-4 weeks. So what happens if one time you're late and you can't come in for six weeks? Not a problem. Get them in when you can. It just can't be any closer together than three weeks, as you won't get the right immunologic response.

There are always risks with vaccinations, let's be honest. I mean, you're putting a foreign substance into the body, whether it's human, dog, cat, any of those things. There can be allergic reactions to those ingredients. So yes, there always is that possibility. The way I look at things like this is, does the potential benefit outweigh the potential risk? And I'm a big vaccine guy, so I don't even have to think about it. I think that the benefit of those vaccines far, far, far outweighs the risk of a potential reaction or a side effect from those vaccines.

Typically at their first visit, depending on when that visit is. I typically recommend the first visit be at 6-8 weeks, which is usually right after the time of acquisition of the kitten. And then those vaccines are boostered approximately every 3-4 weeks after that until about 4 months of age.

Non-core vaccines are the opposite of what I just described. There are vaccines that may not be necessary in every cat and your cat may not need them if that's the case. So, first off, if you have an indoor cat, is he going to need things like FIV, feline immunodeficiency? Yeah, probably not. He has to get that through the bite wound of an infected cat. How's that going to happen if he lives indoors 24/7? So, that's a non-core vaccine.

Might it fit the lifestyle of a barn cat living out in the country who's with 20 other barn cats and likely to be getting into fights? Absolutely, it would be recommended there. So it depends on the cat's lifestyle. Other non-core vaccines are things like feline bordetella, calici, and chlamydia. Those are about the only three I can think of right now, but those are non-cores.