Vaccinating Indoor Only Cats

Hello Dr. Moffat.  I was wondering if you could tell me if rabies is a required vaccination in Moscow, ID. We have a potential adopter who said that their vet mentioned rabies was not needed because their cat is an indoor cat. Funny, because there is ALWAYS room for error. Any dog or cat can always get outdoors if a mistake is made. Our Washington city requires rabies vaccination by law. And do indoor dogs only go potty INDOORS? Let’s get real. Thank you! Cara

Dear Cara: I don’t know if there is a city law here in Moscow but, if you had to pick only one vaccine to stay current with, I would always keep the pet updated on rabies. What if it finds a rabid bat? You just never know. And who wants to board their cat or dog at a shelter (at the owner’s cost) for 10 days because it slobbered on someone or bit someone (even if accidentally) after being exposed to rabies. That would be awful, but that’s what the law says to do.

I once had a cat in my practice (unvaccinated) that killed a rabid bat. This particular cat was a real slobber machine and drooled whenever anyone pet it. It drooled on all four family members who then had to get the rabies shots (at a cost of $3500!)

Rabies shots are cheap insurance. We always have homeopathics to take the bad stuff from the vaccines out of the body if the owner is concerned about that.