Vaccinated Nursing Mom! Now What Do I Do?

[RobinO]

I just rescued a 1-yr old cat and her 5, 13-day old kittens. They arrived from out-of-state where they vaccinated the mom prior to her rescue. She got Rabies AND FVRCP on 7/16/18. I am shocked and angry they did this to a nursing mom. Our allopathic vet said the kittens can get CH?!!

Is there anything I can do? I've only just had the family here for a day. Working on getting her onto raw. She's loving high protein canned and started nibbling at raw. I also gave her Arnica last night and this morning. She's very protective of the kittens so I haven't really even seen them beyond peeking at them through the crate they're housed in. I'm terrified they are going to either get sick or die.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Robin-

I agree that vaccinating a nursing mom is never a good thing to do.

Yes, the kittens are at risk of CH (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iO6emYmSGDoC&amp;pg=PT698&amp;lpg=PT698&amp;dq=cerebellar+hypoplasia+if+vaccinated+when+nursing&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Lf7BFCIk4F&amp;sig=A053EWfkNI15Q4-3ybud5HsWOHE&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj0gO6m9LPcAhXxYt8KHRjXBgAQ6AEIajAL#v=onepage&amp;q=cerebellar%20hypoplasia%20if%20vaccinated%20when%20nursing&amp;f=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cerebellar Hypoplasia</a>).

But it should be a pretty small risk.

For two reasons.

1. The primary problem occurs while the kitten's cerebellum (the balance part of their brain) is developing before birth.

After a week of age (were indeed the kittens 8 days old when mom received the vaccine?) the risk is far less.

However, there are many other potential other problems that can happen from the vaccine given during nursing.

2. If the modified live virus passes from mom to kitten through milk. This is most likely when the kitten intestinal cells are more vulnerable for a few days after birth.

So no, they're not out of the woods. But the chances are that they will be fine.

Let's see if any unusual wobbliness of their gait occurs when they start walking.

And fortunately CH is treatable with homeopathy.

Dr. Jeff

 

[RobinO]

Wait...WHAT???!!! CH is treatable? Or am I thinking curable? What does treatment mean in this situation? Right now the kittens aren't moving around much. They're in their little "house" but I'm watching them. We got weights yesterday and all were in the normal range, so that was a good sign.

Thank you for describing to me about the CH risk. It's helpful to know that.

robin

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Yes, any symptom can be cured as long as the body is capable of repairing any tissue damage associated with it!

And kittens have amazing regenerative abilities.

In this situation, since the kittens are so young and at such low risk, you can just watch for other symptoms.

If balance (or any) symptoms emerge, that's when treatment would start.

Dr. Jeff