In 1996 or 1997 I adopted a darling and very energetic estimated 1 year old domestic medium hair kitty named Frito. The adoption tag said "Found Animal." That was a perfect name for her looks - she was a freckled majority orange also white tabby and looked almost like a Frito corn chip! Frito adjusted to her new home immediately. She was very extroverted. She trusted and loved everyone and was afraid of almost nothing. Frito even rode well in a car which isn't common in cats. I could take her to someone's home with no problem. People loved to see Frito because she was so friendly to them. She would march straight out of the carrier tail sticking straight up high and run up and greet them by standing up and rubbing her paws on their leg. She was also very curious and would quickly begin sniffing every corner of the house until she knew the place. She wasn't afraid of going to the Vet either. The Vet said Frito was an extremely dominant and confident cat.
Frito was also a very creative cat. I remember one cold winter night. For some reason, I wanted to sleep that night without her. I just didn't want to be disturbed. So I shut the bedroom door. What do you know? I'm sound asleep and there's this big "plop" on my bed and then Frito crawling on top of me! How the hell did she get in the bedroom? The bedroom door was closed. There was a seven foot bookcase closing off the only other open space between my bedroom from the living room. She somehow got to the top of that bookcase and jumped down on to my dresser and then jumped from the dresser down on me!
I remember many times I would be sitting on the couch and I just felt like I needed a little love. I would holler out "Frito" and she would come marching out of the bedroom tail straight up high and jump on the couch next to me.
I took the best care of Frito I knew how. She was always up to date on shots, blood work, and dental cleanings. I fed her the best food.
But one day in 2001, I noticed a lump on her right hip. I'd pet her, and there would be this hard lump. The lump wasn't that big, but it was noticeable. She didn't act sick or hurt. But I showed it to the Vet. The Vet recognized what it was immediately. Frito had Feline Vaccine Associated Sarcoma. They needed a biopsy to confirm it, but they were certain it was cancer. They told me this sarcoma would spread quickly and if I did nothing she had several months to live. The other option was surgery, but even with surgery the cancer was almost certain to return. She would probably live 2 years. This surgery would involve removing a large amount of muscle tissue. They would have to be very aggressive and remove a lot of surrounding tissue because this cancer spreads so fast. And even then everyone was almost certain the cancer would come back. The clinic consulted with the University. The University agreed with this prognosis. My Vet also contacted the clinic where Frito got her shots. The sarcoma was directly at the site of the rabies vaccine injection.
What is Feline Vaccine Associated Sarcoma? Simply put, it is an aggressive soft tissue cancer that occurs as a result of and at the site of a vaccine injection. The incidence of FVAS increased substantially in the 1990's, but the risk was still very low. Note from Pets Web MD
But in 1991, veterinarians began to notice a higher than expected number of sarcomas occurring in places where vaccines are commonly injected.
What are the risks of Feline Vaccine Associated Sarcoma? Very low. According to this article from the University of Illinois, the risk is about
1 in 1000 to 1 in 10,000.
What was the cause of this disturbing increase in FVAS? From the article:
"Later, this trend was correlated with a new rabies law that required a shift from a modified-live vaccine to a killed vaccine," says Dr. Tim Fan, veterinary oncology specialist at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana. "Killed vaccines are typically mixed in a adjuvant containing aluminum hydroxide. Evidence suggests that the adjuvant may cause excessive inflammation, which may lead to tumor formation."
Why was there a new law passed that required a change from a modified live vaccine to a killed vaccine? For those interested, here is a link to an interview with
Dr. Ronald Schultz a pioneer and expert on animal vaccines. This is a very interesting read! There is a video and text below. To make a long story short, in the 1980's some kittens who received a modified live rabies vaccine acquired the disease. That caused some concern about using a modified live virus. If you read other places, some believe the kittens had a compromised immune system to start with so there's different theories.
In November 1996, the Vaccine Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force was formed in response to the increase in vaccine associated sarcoma's.
Note the vaccines have improved due to the task force study and recommendations. This is another article from the University of Illinois.
Since the task force began studying the problem, there has been much reform. For example, new vaccination schedules have been developed, decreasing the frequency in which the shots need to be administered and specifying specific anatomic places to inject them. In addition, because the aluminum adjuvants (a chemical agent used to stimulate an immune response) in the vaccinations were suspected to cause the problem, vaccine manufacturers have ceased using them
In preparing the diary, I ran into a
Vet clinic website saying they don't use any adjuvanted vaccine for this reason, but they write about it in a way that implies they are still used. I'm not a Veterinarian or expert, so I encourage anyone with questions to talk to their Veterinarian.
I wanted to give Frito the best remaining 2 years I could, so I went ahead with surgery. The surgery itself went well. Frito woke up quickly, but as I said the surgery involved removing a lot of muscle tissue. My Vet let Frito out of the kennel, and she immediately went walking around her energetic self but using one leg and had very little strength in the other leg. My Vet said "that's the fastest recovery I've ever seen" and told me Frito could go home. But we all expected this. That was Frito.
We got home and Frito was fine, except she had very little strength in one leg. She couldn't jump up on my bed anymore. I tried to improvise by putting up some kind of step contraption.
Unfortunately, Frito's story gets tragically sad. About 2 days later, Frito wasn't eating very much. I went to the pet store and got her a cat milk treat. She drank it, but 5 minutes later she threw it all up. And 5 minutes after that she died right in front of me. I don't know what happened. All of a sudden she began to struggle, moving backwards, and then fell over with her tongue sticking straight out. The whole episode lasted about 30 seconds. This was after hours, and I panic and took her in the carrier and drove as fast as I could to the Emergency Vet clinic. I told them what happened. Just then my Vet returned my call. I handed the emergency Vet my cell phone and she and my Vet talked. The emergency Vet handed the phone back to me and my Vet informs me "there's no heartbeat and for some reason the throat is all swollen." Nobody knew what happened. They could only speculate. They tried to get Frito's heart beating again, but to no avail. An autopsy was another $150 but I declined because I had already spent so much on Vet bills. Looking back, I wish I had gotten an autopsy so I would know what happened. I couldn't help but blame myself. I felt if I had not bought the cat sip treat, she wouldn't have vomited and wouldn't have died. Nobody else blamed me or ever brought that up. But I couldn't help but feel that way. I guess I still don't know how to feel. Was I stupid to get such a rich treat so soon? If she hadn't thrown up, would she not have died? Nobody could say what really happened.
I really appreciated my Vet. She called me a month afterward and told me I would be getting a reimbursement check for the surgery. She was filling out a report for the vaccine company. One question was if she had applied for financial reimbursement for the pet owner. My Vet was surprised - she hadn't seen that question before but if she could get me reimbursed she was going to do so! She didn't say anything to me until the check was in hand.
A few months later again, I adopted another cat. I had her spayed, and I did get her kitten shots against both rabies and distemper. Soon after that, my Vet quit. Why? She couldn't handle the way people treated animals anymore. There were so many instances where people wanted to put a pet to sleep because they just didn't want it anymore or it had a very treatable illness. I understand it is important to keep your pets shots up to date. But after my Vet quit, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. This was partly because I no longer had a medical provider I trusted. Also, Cleo was a 100% indoor cat. I kept asking myself how could she get rabies or distemper? After what happened to Frito, I was emotionally paralyzed regarding vaccines. When people feel that way, they usually do nothing.
When Cleo was 4-5 years old, she needed her first dental cleaning. The Vet clinic wouldn't do it unless I brought her rabies up to date. They encouraged me to bring her distemper shot up to date as well. I agreed, and have kept her shots up to date since. When I expressed concern, the Veterinarian assured me FVAS is extremely rare. Also, many if not most municipalities require pets be up to date on their rabies shot. If your pet isn't up to date, and he/she innocently bites someone in play, animal control could quarantine your pet.
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