Table 3.

WSAVA Feline Vaccination Guidelines

Vaccine	Initial kitten vaccination	Initial adult vaccination	Revaccination recommendation	Comments
Feline Parvovirus (FPV; MLV, parenteral) FPV (killed, adjuvanted or killed, non‐adjuvanted, parenteral) FPV (MLV, non‐adjuvanted, intranasal)	Begin at 6–8 weeks of age, then every 2–4 weeks until 16 weeks of age or older [EB1].	Two doses 2–4 weeks apart are generally recommended by manufacturers, but one dose of MLV vaccine is considered protective [EB4].	Revaccination (booster) at either 6 months or 1 year of age, then not more often than every 3 years.	Core. Vaccination of queens should occur before and not during pregnancy. Should vaccination during pregnancy be essential, only killed core vaccines should be used. MLV vaccines must not be used in pregnant animals. MLV vaccines should not be used in FeLV‐ and/or FIV‐infected cats [EB4].
Feline Herpesvirus‐1 (FHV‐1; MLV, non‐adjuvanted, parenteral and intranasal products are available) FHV‐1 (killed, adjuvanted, parenteral)	Begin at 6–8 weeks of age, then every 2–4 weeks until 16 weeks of age or older [EB1].	Two doses 2–4 weeks apart are generally recommended.	Revaccination (booster) at either 6 months or 1 year of age, then not more often than every 3 years for a low‐risk cat [EB1]. Annual revaccination should be provided for a higher risk cat.	Core. MLV FHV‐1/FCV vaccines are invariably combined with each other, either as bivalent products or in combination with additional vaccine antigens (e.g. FPV). Mild upper respiratory disease signs are occasionally seen following intranasal vaccination or aerosolization or leakage from the injection site of parenteral MLV vaccine. Note: for definition of low and higher risk cat refer to text.
Feline Calicivirus (FCV; MLV, non‐adjuvanted, parenteral and intranasal products are available) FCV (killed, non‐adjuvanted parenteral; containing two strains of calicivirus) FCV (killed, adjuvanted, parenteral)	Begin at 6–8 weeks of age, then every 2–4 weeks until 16 weeks of age or older [EB1].	Two doses 2–4 weeks apart are generally recommended.	Revaccination (booster) at either 6 months or 1 year of age, then not more often than every 3 years for a low‐risk cat [EB1]. Annual revaccination should be provided for a higher‐risk cat.	Core. MLV FHV‐1/FCV vaccines are invariably combined with each other, either as bivalent products or in combination with additional vaccine antigens (e.g. FPV). Mild upper respiratory disease signs are occasionally seen following intranasal vaccination or aerosolization or leakage from the injection site of parenteral MLV vaccine. Transient polyarthritis is occasionally reported after FCV vaccination. Note: for definition of low and higher‐risk cat refer to text.
Rabies (canary pox virus‐vectored recombinant, non‐adjuvanted, parenteral)	Administer a single dose as early as 12 weeks of age, with revaccination 1 year later.	Administer a single dose with revaccination at 1 year of age.	Revaccination (booster) as per licensed DOI or as required by local regulations.	Core in areas where the disease is endemic.
Rabies (1‐ and 3‐year killed, adjuvanted products are available, parenteral)	Administer a single dose as early as 12 weeks of age, with revaccination 1 year later.	Administer a single dose with revaccination 1 year later.	Revaccination (booster) as per licensed DOI or as required by local regulations.	Core in areas where the disease is endemic.
Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV; canary pox virus‐vectored recombinant, non‐adjuvanted, injectable)	Administer an initial dose as early as 8 weeks of age; a second dose must be administered 3–4 weeks later.	Two doses, 3–4 weeks apart	A single dose 1 year following the last dose of the initial series, then not more often than every 2–3 years in cats determined to have sustained risk of exposure [EB4].	Non‐Core. Only FeLV‐negative cats should be vaccinated. FeLV testing must be performed prior to vaccine administration to avoid unnecessary administration of vaccine.
FeLV (killed, adjuvanted, parenteral) FeLV (recombinant protein subunit, adjuvanted, parenteral)	Administer an initial dose as early as 8 weeks of age; a second dose must be administered 3–4 weeks later.	Two doses, 3–4 weeks apart	A single dose 1 year following the last dose of the initial series, then not more often than every 2–3 years in cats determined to have sustained risk of exposure [EB4].	Non‐Core. Only FeLV‐negative cats should be vaccinated. FeLV testing must be performed prior to vaccine administration
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV; killed, adjuvanted, parenteral)	Three doses are required. The initial dose is administered as early as 8 weeks of age; two subsequent doses should be administered at an interval of 2–3 weeks.	Three doses are required. Each dose is administered 2–3 weeks apart.	A single dose 1 year following the last dose of the initial series, then annually in cats determined to have sustained risk of exposure.	Non‐core. Vaccination induces production of antibodies indistinguishable from those developed in response to FIV infection as detected by in‐practice test kits. Some discriminatory serological tests have been reported. Validated PCR diagnostics are becoming more widely available and are recommended by the VGG.
Chlamydia felis (avirulent live, non‐adjuvanted, parenteral) Chlamydia felis (killed, adjuvanted, parenteral)	Administer the initial dose as early as 9 weeks of age; a second dose is administered 2–4 weeks later.	Administer two doses, 2–4 weeks apart.	Annual booster is indicated for cats with sustained exposure risk.	Non‐Core. Vaccination is most appropriately used as part of a control regime for animals in multicat environments where infections associated with clinical disease have been confirmed. Inadvertent conjunctival inoculation of vaccine has been reported to cause clinical signs of infection.
Bordetella bronchiseptica (avirulent live, non‐adjuvanted, intranasal)	Administer a single dose intranasally as early as 4 weeks of age.	Administer a single dose intranasally.	Annual booster is indicated for cats with sustained risk.	Non‐Core. Vaccination may be considered in cases where cats are likely to be at specific risk of infection; for example, cats that are kept in large colonies.
Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP; MLV, non‐adjuvanted, intranasal)	Administer a single dose as early as 16 weeks of age and a second dose 3–4 weeks later.	Two doses 3–4 weeks apart.	Annual booster is recommended by the manufacturer.	Not Recommended. According to the limited studies available, only cats known to be feline coronavirus antibody‐negative at the time of vaccination are likely to develop some level of protection. It is rare that a cat will be coronavirus antibody negative at 16 weeks of age or older.

Where the recommendations in this table are not consistent with those on datasheets [EB2] the level of evidence supporting the recommendation is given.