kittens

[CindyH]

I am thinking of buying a kitten as my 15 year old cat as just died recently. Can anyone tell me what injections and/or treatment they need and at what ages. Many thanks.

[SamBlackDog]

Phone your local vets and they will be able to advise you on vaccinations and costs. You will need flu and enteritis, plus as an option the FeLV vaccination - best to get both. If you book your kitten in for these vaccinations most vets will give a free health check. It's a 3 week course and you can start once the cat is 6-8 weeks - will cost approx. �40.00. Good luck!

[xrayspecs]

If you get a kitten from a reputable pet shop they will already have been wormed, deflead. They will require flu vaccinations at between 2 to 6 months old and then an annual booster. You can get them vaccinated against feline lukemia but it's not cheap. Don't let the kitten out until it has been vaccinated for flu though.

[Eels]

As this is a UK site I'll assume your kitten isn't coming from a pet shop.

Vaccinations are usually given around 9 and 12 weeks (ask your vet for details of prices) - don't let the kitten out until your vet has advised you.

Worming should be done every month until 6 months of age, every 3-4 months thereafter. Don't use over the counter wormers, they're much less effective than what your vet can give you, and don't come with free advice, either! Defleaing will probably need done less frequently at first but you should discuss this with your vet at the health check.

You might also want to consider asking your vet about microchipping and neutering - make a list of questions before you go!

[Mandahoy]

We have 2 kittens and asked the same question to our vet. Obviously having 2 meant twice the cost in fees. Our vet advised we go for the Leukemia test and if they tested negative to go for that jab instead of the flu & ent. This is becuase if you go for the flu and ent and they do have Leukemia it attacks their immune system making the flu and ent jab useless. If they do get flu or ent it can be treated whereas the Leukemia is more difficult. Hope this helps.