Inflammatory Bowel Disease In Cats,
Could bowel problem be connected to cat vaccine?

Question.
Our three-year-old cat was first vaccinated at the age of nine weeks against the three most common illnesses. The following year, two months before his booster was due, he had an intussusception and had a piece of bowel removed. He recovered and my vet just said it was probably due to ingesting insect sting.

However, the next year (2002) just after the booster he had to have another similar procedure. It seemed uncanny that the timing was so near to that from the previous year, that we asked the vet if my cat could possibly be allergic to the vaccine. The vet's words were: "I shouldn't think so..."
My husband has looked on the Internet and found reports from USA that intussusception affects some young children after a certain vaccine.

Have you ever heard of cats having this kind of reaction to vaccines? We don't want to put him through another op.

Answer.
An intussusception is a condition in which part of the bowel turns inside-out on itself, causing one portion to become 'telescoped' inside the neighbouring portion of bowel. It is an uncommon problem in cats and I don't know of any evidence to suggest that it is linked with vaccination.

The link between vaccination and intussusception in humans is related to the use of an oral
vaccine against Rotavirus infection - a common cause of severe diarrhoea in young children. We do not vaccinate cats against Rotaviruses, and there are no oral cat vaccines in use in this country.
The first time your cat suffered an intussusception it occurred two months before his annual booster was due, so presumably this was about ten months after his previous vaccination, which would seem to be too long afterwards for the vaccine to be involved.

In the UK the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) operates a very effective system for reporting and tracing possible adverse reactions to veterinary drugs, called SARSS
(Suspected Adverse Reaction Surveillance Scheme). This allows all reports of suspected adverse drug reactions to be collected together and investigated, so that if a previously unrecognized problem starts to occur it will be recognized and publicized. The VMD has recently published a report on suspected adverse reactions to vaccination but there is no suggestion of any link with intussusception. UK veterinary experts have reviewed the subject of adverse reactions to vaccination. You can find the report of their findings at www.thecatgroup.org.uk.

_{source Your Cat Mag.}