That's a hilarious shot, showing

• I have a packrat in the house, HELP! sm - Lyndia
  • Finally got rid of one after several months - with a live trap
  • We just use those D-con(?) rat poison - sm -
  • I have a rat too - the original zzz
    • That's a hilarious shot, showing - Misha
      • I WISH those were my feet!! :-) - the original zzz
        • 2nd toe longer, wide space between big toe and - 2nd toe. NOT pretty. nm
          • Above post is IMO, of course. - nm
            • of course! but compared to my 1/2 bunions, to me they are pretty LOL nm - the original zzz
              • that should be 1/2-inch ;-) NM - the original zzz
                • I'm sorry. Shoulda kept opinion to myself. - nm
                  • No! Not offended in the least and as a matter of fact, sm - the original zzz
                    • What a nice response by a nice mom - may
                      • to may, misha, etc. :-) sm - the original zzz
                      • How could you know they were a kid's feet just - from the pic? nm
                      • Yeah, plus, they were nice feet, I thought. - Misha
  • I have inside and out protection.... - Never have pests here
  • City gal here. We have professional critter people, who SM - Domestic Shorthair
    • reminded me of my Christmas story - mdlfcrs
  • Not only do you need to trap - Me
  • Borrow a cat!! Keep it indoors a week or so! (nm) - Me
    • Years back we lived in the country, and mice - annabanana
    • HA! My cat loves to leave little presents - trose
      • cats - jlynn
        • mine brought me a very alive green garden snake - mdlfcrs
          • Ha! I got to see a green snake - Misha
  • If you've got one, you've got bunches! - Hayseed
    • Can't have a cat sm - Lyndia
      • Get you some Coca-Cola ... - Ok, no cats
      • They do have hairless cats. :))) - DS
        • Usually not hair people allergic to, it is the dander - from the skin and saliva that causes allergies. nm
    • I had a mouse get in my double oven many - mlstoo
    • Oh, another non-poisonous trick someone told me... - Hayseed

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a small drink usually is one shot, a medium larger is usually two shots - you can actually ask for decaf espresso also - there are so many things you can ask for - just tell them at your local shop what you told us here and see what they suggest.  A latte is a shot of espresso topped with milk and then foam, a mocha is chocolate milk, so I would stick with latte for now - there are also frozen drinks at Starbucks with no coffee in them at all - but cannot think of the name right off the top of my head - good luck!!

Has anyone here had an experience with their cat having a reaction to their rabies shot booster?  My 4-year-old Persian just had a rabies booster 2 weeks ago at a new vet's office.  (Just moved - have only been going there for about a year).  My guess is they use a different brand or manufacturer of vaccine than my old one did.) 

Yesterday morning, exactly 2 weeks after getting her shot and seeming just fine, I found a large, 2x2 cm lump on my cat's right lower hindquarter.  Thinking it was a hair mat, I put on my glasses for a better look.  It wasn't a mat; instead, it was a subcutaneous lump that felt similar to a lipoma, but was firmer, not as soft and squishy as a lipoma.  She had also vomited 4 times during the night -- food, not hairballs.  She's never done that before.

I took her to the vet right away, and they aspirated some fluid out of the lump, looked at it in a microscope, and said she had a lot of white cells.  (She also had a fever).  They sent off the slides to the lab to see if this might be vaccine-associated sarcoma - something I never even knew existed until yesterday!   While waiting for the lab results, she's on an antibiotic, as well as an anti-inflammatory for 5 days.

So, I got on the internet and did some research about these vaccine-related sarcomas, and would advise any cat-owner to do the same thing.  The information I found was NOT encouraging!  Did you know that the occurrence of these sarcomas has been increasing since the early 90's, when they started making adjuvant (more inflammatory) rabies vaccines?  The sarcomas are VERY aggressive in cats.  (I had a former cat die in only 7 months after a mastectomy for breast ca. with adenosarcoma.)   They think some cats may be predisposed to developing sarcomas at the site of injection for both rabies and the feline leukemia / FIP vaccines.  The rescue where I adopted my cat advises its adopters not to get the leukemia/FIP vaccine, so I don't get that one.  But this is the first I've heard about the rabies shot being dangerous, as well. 

My reading brought to light the fact that vets almost always give the rabies shot as distally as possible in the RIGHT rear quarter.  The reason?  If a sarcoma forms, they're very invasive, and they found that tumors from shots given between the shoulder blades or in the scruff of the neck tended to spread into the spine and lungs.  (Oh, GREAT....)   Even more thrilling to learn is the reason they give the shot in the lower rear quarter:  It's so that if the cat gets a sarcoma, the best chance they have of prolonging the cat's life is to amputate the entire leg. 

Each state differs, but in California, rabies shots for cats are recommended, but NOT mandatory.  Had I known this, and about the danger of the adjuvant rabies vaccines, I would have skipped the vaccine altogether.   My vet recommended that if she gets a rabies shot in the future, (which I don't intend to do with either of my strictly indoor-only cats), there is a SAFER brand -  Merial "PureVax".    It's a non-adjuvant vaccine that is much safer.  (My guess is that it's probably more expensive, too.)  It's also apparently not easy to find.   My vet office doesn't use it (WHY, I don't know, since they're recommending it...), so that's just one more reason for me to say "NO" to rabies vaccines in the future.  However, If I were getting a new kitten, I would make sure it got the Merial PureVax instead of the regular kind, provided it's approved for kittens.  It's disadvantage is that it's given yearly, rather than q.3 years. 

Anyway, regardless of whether my cat's lab tests come back positive or negative for malignancy, after what I've learned from researching feline rabies shots, I thought I'd pass the information on to everyone who's interested, so they can talk to their own vets about it and at least make a more-informed decision about vaccinations than I did!  

That would make one heck of a driver's license picture!