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Review
. 2022 Jul 22;14(8):1602.
doi: 10.3390/v14081602.

Vaccination and Antibody Testing in Cats

Herman Egberink  1 , Tadeusz Frymus  2 , Katrin Hartmann  3 , Karin Möstl  4 , Diane D Addie  5 , Sándor Belák  6 , Corine Boucraut-Baralon  7 , Regina Hofmann-Lehmann  8 , Albert Lloret  9 , Fulvio Marsilio  10 , Maria Grazia Pennisi  11 , Séverine Tasker  12   13 , Etienne Thiry  14 , Uwe Truyen  15 , Margaret J Hosie  16
Affiliations
Review

Vaccination and Antibody Testing in Cats

Herman Egberink et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Vaccines protect cats from serious diseases by inducing antibodies and cellular immune responses. Primary vaccinations and boosters are given according to vaccination guidelines provided by industry and veterinary organizations, based on minimal duration of immunity (DOI). For certain diseases, particularly feline panleukopenia, antibody titres correlate with protection. For feline calicivirus and feline herpesvirus, a similar correlation is absent, or less clear. In this review, the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD) presents current knowledge and expert opinion on the use of antibody testing in different situations. Antibody testing can be performed either in diagnostic laboratories, or in veterinary practice using point of care (POC) tests, and can be applied for several purposes, such as to provide evidence that a successful immune response was induced following vaccination. In adult cats, antibody test results can inform the appropriate re-vaccination interval. In shelters, antibody testing can support the control of FPV outbreaks by identifying potentially unprotected cats. Antibody testing has also been proposed to support decisions on optimal vaccination schedules for the individual kitten. However, such testing is still expensive and it is considered impractical to monitor the decline of maternally derived antibodies.

Keywords: DOI; duration of immunity; feline; immunization; maternal antibodies; titre testing; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors are members of the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD), a scientifically independent board of experts in feline medicine. ABCD is supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, the founding sponsor; Virbac; and IDEXX. Individual ABCD members have been consultants for, or have received research funding and honoraria from various commercial companies; full details are available on request. However, the authors declare no competing interests. There is no commercial conflict of interest as the information presented here is only for scientific dissemination. Neither the sponsors nor any of the other companies related to individual ABCD members had any role in either the writing of, or in the decision to publish this review.

References

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