Sometimes, life is unfair and there simply is no reason 'why'...

Bamboo and Tiki were born into our litter of six in December of 2009. Tiki was a fighter- one of the first to the nipple and one of the last to let go. Bamboo, although born at a hefty weight, was not flourishing and actually had a very rare reaction to kitten milk replacer- he ended up with liquid in his lungs and we thought for sure that we would lose him. Round-the-clock care and love resulted in a fat, healthy black and white Sphynx kitten that loved solid foods and human attention.

These two babies were very special- together, they charmed the hearts of two very loving owners- a couple that came over weekly to hold and love on their kittens after six weeks of age. They were carefully bathed before and after each session to ensure not only their cleanliness, but their health, and they seemed to thrive under the care of myself as well as their future home.

At six weeks of age, Bamboo ended up hurting his leg and was placed on antibiotics. Tiki continued to flourish, but around seven and a half weeks of age, she developed a bout of diarrhe and therefore, my vet and I decided to hold off on the two kittens' first set of vaccines- the other kittens were vaccinated at 8 weeks on schedule. Due to Bamboo's antibiotics regimen and Tiki's diarrhea, we waited 10 additional days before getting their first set of vaccines.

I blame myself for not noticing the results of the Pfizer vaccine... There was vomit in the kitten room and diarrhea and foolishly, I thought it was the result of changing the antibiotic Bamboo was on from Clavamox to a strong dosage of Baytril. Both my vet and I wanted Bamboo's limp completely gone before he went home to his new Mom and Dad in a few weeks.

It wasn't until the next day that I noticed both Bamboo and Tiki were refusing to eat and acting poorly. I thought it was simply a reaction to the vaccines and started feeding them wet food and multiple times a day... It wasn't enough, though, because Tiki passed away that night and with the approval and tears of his future owners, I put Bamboo to sleep the next morning.

The official diagnosis was 'distemper' which is the feline version of parvo. When asked if the vaccine could have caused this disease, the vet, not my vet, said, "Definitely not... There are studies... Blah blah blah..." Not to be flippant, but the rest faded into the background.

After spending much time discussing this with other breeders as well as my own veterinarian, I fully blame the vaccination for my kittens' deaths. They were fat and happy on Thursday night when their owners visited and by Tuesday morning, Bamboo was a tiny skeleton of himself.

We are told that vaccines cannot hurt- but is that true? While modified live vaccines are used probably thousands of times each day throughout the United States due to their ability to create an immune response faster then the killed versions of the same vaccines, can we really believe that there is no possibility of a modified live virus causing the disease it is supposed to prevent from occuring?

I know in my case- I took three kittens into the veterinarian's office and the two that received a vaccine suffered and died. The third kitten, that had received its vaccine previously, continues to flourish. Is there no chance that the batch was bad? That something went horribly wrong with that particular vaccine?

According to the vet I saw, I must have walked the distemper into my cattery- much like you can walk parvo into your home when you have unvaccinated puppies. I am loathe to believe that is the case- otherwise, why did only Tiki and Bamboo develop the symptoms of distemper? My vet and myself are not even sure Bamboo had distemper due to the fact that the vaccine can cause a false positive, but even if he did not have distemper- he had the severe symptoms of it and he was put to sleep due to this fact.

I wish I could summarize this with an answer for you- a suggestion as to what works better. I don't have any answers. Killed vaccines, while effective, do not take effect as quickly as modified live vaccines and they have other cons as well. Modified live, while effective quicker, may only rarely have this type of response- but is it worth the loss of two kittens' lives for even such a rare response?

My only point in this page is to let you know that we have experienced this. We will continue to vaccinate our kittens twice before sending them home, but at this point in time- we may change our vaccine protocol. If you have ever experienced this in your own home or cattery, please feel free to contact me and tell me your personal story.

Rest in peace, my sweet Bamboo and Tiki... Your Mom, Dad, and I miss you very much...

Copyrighted 2010 BirthdaySuit Sphynx



Bamboo & Tiki