Is it safer to opt-out of any non-core cat vaccinations?

I wouldn't say it's necessarily safer. It's just that you need to discuss the lifestyle of your cat with your veterinarian and decide what the best plan is in terms of vaccines.

Good question. Non-core vaccinations would be anything that has to do with the lifestyle of your cat. The core vaccinations would be things like rabies, rhinotracheitis, panleukopenia, those things. I give those to every cat. The non-core vaccines would be things like FIP or feline leukemia.

To answer your question of whether it’s safer to opt out of non-core vaccines, I suppose you could say that’s true, but only in the sense that I'm not about vaccinating every cat for every disease that's on the planet if they're never going to be exposed to them. If I have an animal that's indoors 24/7 in a double-locked room and is never going to step foot outside and no other cats are coming in, would I be fine with just doing those minimal core vaccines? Yes, I would. Of course, I would. If you're at all unsure if it's one of those where, "Well, he goes outside every now and then," or, "Well, he loves to run out the front door every time we try to go outside," then I would absolutely do the additional vaccines, like feline leukemia and what have you, to keep that cat protected because you don't know what they're going to be exposed to.

If your cat needs a non-core vaccine, then there's probably a reason why your cat should get that. If your cat has a significant autoimmune medical condition or something that would make it unsafe to get vaccines, we may have conversations about that. Or if your cat is a sibling or has had previous cancer from an injection, we'd have serious discussions about that. But all in all, if your cat has a risk factor for a non-core vaccine, then we're going to recommend that vaccine.

There are core vaccines and non-core vaccines, and veterinary professionals can advise you on what's core and non-core. Veterinarians will not recommend a non-core vaccine for your cat unless it's necessary for their specific lifestyle. The goal is to minimize the risk of vaccine reactions and any type of harmful events while still protecting cats against the most common diseases they might be exposed to.