This is natural to have the interest to know how much does cat vaccine cost. As you are planning to adopt a cat newly or already adopted it; is crucial to gather such information.

Cats among pets are very popular to pet owners. According to a survey study carried out from time to time, a significant number of people around the globe choose cats as a pet.

So, likewise, it’s a good idea to pass your leisure time by adopting a cat. Because it has the magic to make you so close and affectionate to her. You will easily understand how much unconditional love and joy your cat can produce for both you and your family.

So, why not you will take the opportunity to adopt it?

However, in this case, you have to ensure its health facilities with top priority.  You must take proper care to prevent health issues like any of your existing family members.

And, vaccination against a range of diseases is one of the most important areas you must pay attention to protect your cats.

But, you have to have an initial idea regarding the budget and how much do cat vaccines cost.

In this guide, you will get an overall idea about your cat vaccination along with its cost.

Let’s explore it!

How much does cat vaccine cost?

What cat vaccines are necessary?

The number of most common feline diseases is not much more. Among those fatal or serious diseases of cats are around five to take into precautionary measures.

Still, the incidence of disease outbreaks varies from place to place. Say, the disease found in the United States may not be equally present in another continent.

However, in terms of the cosmopolitan distribution of cat diseases I mentioning below the most common cat diseases below one by one –

Cat flu: This is a viral disease caused by feline calicivirus (FCV) and feline herpes virus(FPV). This flu has got similarities with human flu in terms of signs and symptoms. You will see your cat affected by flu having the following symptoms-

• Sneezing
• Weepy or painful eyes
• Fever
• Coughing
• Lack of body energy
• Sore throat and etc.

Without proper immediate treatment, the disease can be very serious and fatal, especially for kittens. But for adult and healthy cats, the flu is not as serious as that of kittens.

Feline infectious enteritis: The causal agent of this disease is feline parvovirus and feline panleukopenia. It affects the guts and immune system of your cats. The heart can also be affected by this disease. Alike the flu, the disease can’t cause so harmful effects in adult cats like kittens. Even newborn kittens are not escaped from this disease. They can be born with brain damage.

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV): It affects mainly those cats with are exposed to the outdoor environment. It also creates adverse effects on the body’s immune system. As the name suggests, the virus can cause cancers. However, there are some more symptoms found like anemia. And once the immune system is damaged, the disease plays a role as a door opener for other diseases to get entrance into diseased cats.

The above three are the core three diseases commonly seen in cats. There are other diseases that can infect your cat as mentioned below-

Rabies: It’s a zoonotic disease. It means, it is transmissible from cat to human. Once the symptoms are exposed, there is no way to recover unless death. This is also a viral disease.

Chlamydophilafelis: This is the only bacterial disease I discussed so far here. It affects the eyes of your cats. The symptom is more or less similar to the flu. If your cat has a history to suffer from this disease before, vaccination against it can be a wise decision.

How much does cat vaccine cost?

Actually, this is difficult to calculate how much does cat vaccine cost. It depends on a number of factors on which your vet can determine the number of shots your cat may need.

Suppose, you’re living in such an area of a country where there is no outbreak history of a particular disease.  In this case, vaccinating for that particular disease could be a waste of money.

So, considering every situation, your vets will decide the number of vaccinations your cat should have. For example, will your cat need both core and non-core vaccines based on the epidemiological data, like this.

If your cat needs both types of vaccine, then, naturally the cat vaccine cost will become much more. To give a tentative idea, for the first year cat vaccine cost could appear as follows depending on those criteria-

• If the situation favors, the minimum cat vaccine cost could be around $100 USD
• In case of a middle average situation, the cost could rise up to $160 USD
• If the factors surrounding the cats become adverse, the cost could be as high as $ 200 USD.

However, on the basis of worldwide epidemiological data, experts suggest following vaccines. I am mentioning the prices of cat vaccines alongside for the first year.

• FVRCP: $25 to $40
• FeLV: $30 to $50
• Rabies: around $30

Besides those cat vaccine costs, you have to pay the overall clinical examination fee additionally while the first round of vaccination shots. At the same time, the price can vary from place to place, keep that in mind.

You also need to take the cost of a booster dose of those vaccines into your account. The booster dose is usually given within one month of the first shot.

After that, when your kitten becomes one year old, you have to continue annual adult exams that include a core vaccination program only once a year.

If you adopt your cat in an indoor environment, don’t let her go outside to move with outdoor cats, you can run those core vaccinations for the next three years. That’s all.

But in case of occasional outdoor movement along with indoor captivity, your vets are there to give you an expert opinion. This is a good practice to keep in touch with vets always.

Other than those core vaccinations, you can consider some additional shots in order to give more protection to your beloved cats which are as follows-

• Bordetella: It’s a zoonotic disease of cats which highly contagious in nature affecting the respiratory system of your cats causing Kennel coughs. The disease can be spread from cat to cat or even cat to dog. If the disease is left untreated, pneumonia can develop in your cat.

However, the cost of a vaccine against this disease is around $ 20 USD.

• Feline Chlamydia: This is a kind of bacteria that plays the role of the causal agent of this disease. The eye part of the cat’s body is usually affected by this bacteria causing inflammation in the eye conjunctiva.

The vaccine price for this is about $30 USD.

How often cat vaccines are done?

Usually, the initial vaccination dose can be started from an 8-week-old kitten followed by a booster dose. Your kitten can have the booster dose of vaccine 3 to 4 weeks later from the initial or first dose.

However, you can provide a third booster at its 15 weeks age in order to ensure complete protection. After that, you have to continue once a year.

Don’t forget to take the vaccination card from a vet after vaccinating your cats to maintain a written record for the further dose to come.

After completing the vaccination, make sure your cat remains at your home. Don’t allow her to move with outdoor cats.

When do cats get vaccines?

The ideal vaccination timeline for your kitten is as follows-

• FVCRP (a combined vaccine) and FeLV Vaccines: Eight weeks of age
• Booster of FVCRP and FeLV: Twelve weeks old kitten
• For the third booster of FVCRP: 16 Weeks of kitten
• Rabies vaccine: Sixteen weeks
• Deworming for intestinal parasites: 16 weeks

FVRCP as mentioned above is a combined vaccine that works against three diseases of cats. That means, it is three in one. This vaccine is also called as core cat vaccine.

FVRCP works against the following viruses-

• FVP (Feline Panleukopenia)
• VCV (Feline Calicivirus)
• FHV-1 (Feline Herpesvirus)

This is important to note that kittens under six months of age are found most vulnerable to disease. Because the maternal immunity the kitten receives from her mother diminishes before that age. The antibodies got from the mother’s milk provide some degree of protection against diseases at the early age of the kitten.

That’s why this is crucial to provide the right vaccination at the right time in order to the protection of your cats.

However, the result of vaccination depends on a few factors of your cats, such as-

• Present health condition of cat – if already affected with any diseases or not.
• Lifestyle, that is, if the cat is outdoor or indoor
• Age of cat

Does pet insurance cover cat vaccine costs?

Actually, any insurance is designed for accidental injury or damage. And health insurance is allowed to claim for unexpected diseases, injuries, or illnesses associated with your cats.

But while adopting regular or routine procedures such as vaccination, and deworming; your pet insurance policy usually may not cover them.

Rather, to some extent, there might have a precondition to have routine regular preventive measures first before doing the pet insurance policy. In this case, your monthly premium can be made less by the provider.

Read more – Why is it important to vaccinate your cat?

Bottomline

Now, what’s your opinion? Is the cat vaccine cost worth it in benefits? So, if you calculate the benefit-cost ratio, I’m sure you will be benefited. So, don’t put so much attention to discussing the issue of how much does cat vaccine cost. Considering economic value, it will always be feasible to take proper vaccination measures. Because there is every possibility to be the treatment cost much higher than the cat vaccine cost. Moreover, some diseases are fatal and so serious. By taking cat vaccine, you are minimizing the life-threatening risk to your cats.

Thanks for your patience to go through this long content. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more queries about the cost of cat vaccine issues.