I've purchased medications from a mail order catalog, but I had to have my vet give me a prescription. company was named UPCO in St Joseph, MO

I was in the same situation earlier this year (Momma barn cat & 4 kittens)... call your local SPCA and they can help you find lower cost spay/neuter programs that also include shots.

There is a "Feral Cat" program locally that would have spay/neutered and given shots for $15 a cat, but they were booked and I couldn't wait 2 months (they only do a once a month clinic).

The local Second Chance organization has a SNAP program .. it cost me $65 per cat for spay/neuter & shots. Thankfully I had found homes for 2 kittens first, so only had Mom and 2 other kittens.

It did take a lot of phone calls, but it was worth it.

Good luck.

You'll probably need a prescription from a vet anyway, and my experience has been that they refuse to give them. If I were you, I'd try to find a cheaper vet.

Our farm had 16 cats living in the barn when we purchased it, and we had them all neutered AND given shots for $50 each. That included the respiratory 4-way shot, and deworming, in addition to rabies and distemper.

$100 a cat sounds very expensive, especially if it doesn't include neutering. It might be worth it to call around and get some more prices.

Yes, you can very easily give your own dog and cat vaccines, you don't need a vet. These are precisely the same brands your vet gives and you don't need a prescription. The link below is just one source, but I find them quite reliable and reasonably priced.

I've been doing this since I started a rescue operation for pitbulls nearly 15 years ago because vet costs were just too high. Unfortunately you can no longer get rabies shots by mail order in Missouri - vets put a stop to that so they could continue to collect their fees - so the rescue operation had to close.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jeffers Pet Supply

Thanks for the input.
What vaccines should I give? There seem to be a number of variations.
Any recommendations for a program or schedule?

The momma cat is probably about a year old, the four kittens 8-9 weeks.
Oh yeah, and while I'm at it... a big dog (another adopted stray), probably about 2 years old.
None of them have had anything.

Can someone give me a specific list of what they need?

Thanks
Dan

Here's some good advice on doing your own cat vaccinations by a vet:

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat Vaccines

Same site, for dogs:

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog Vaccines

As DPallas says, you can purchase the standard recommended vaccines for dogs and cats without a prescription, except for rabies in some states.

However, when we decided to keep three abandoned kittens a couple of years ago, I had to take them to a vet for their shots because local vets wouldn't spay and neuter them without 'proof' they had had their vaccs. You might check this out with the vet you're planning to use to spay and neuter.

Dan you can buy your vax at a farm store,like TSC if you have one. I buy a 3-in-one (or a 5-in-one?) that covers feline luekemia too. We can't do rabies but when the vet somes out for the horses, we'll catch whatever cats are around and give them rabies (sometimes).

And Dan...you need not premise this the way you did...LOL...well, maybe you do on this forum ;). Where have ya been anyway?

I also give my own dog and cat shots, the multi-way ones. I purchase the syringe, and vaccines in a package at TSC. Shots run between $5-$7 each, for each animal. For animals never vaccinated, you need to give two shots the first year. Then a booster each year at the same time(month) you started, to keep animals updated. Dogs in our state need rabies given by the vet to have a paper for dog liscense. Proof of rabies vaccination is required to get the liscense and all dogs are required to be liscensed yearly. Even tiny house dogs. Dogs must wear liscense if outside the house in this county or you can get ticketed. Fines are handed out for unliscensed dogs, plus dogs MUST then be liscensed. If you liscense early, before State due date of 2-14, price of liscense is half, $10 of later price, $20 each. Neutered dogs get a price break also, $7 if done before due date.

I have not found the shots difficult to give, dogs seem to have good immunity from them. Our dogs go a lot of places. There is a picture on shot package for good locations to put the needle in. I have had no bad reactions.
There is some technique to giving shots well, hold the animal firmly so it can't jump away, clean injection site, air out of the syringe, intermuscular or under the skin, steady pressure to inject medicine. Do you know any nurses who could help you practice? Our old vet started us as kids, had too much "real work" to be vaccinating everything on the farm, she said. Save her time if we did our own shots. She showed us how and sent us off.

We also give our own horse shots. I love our current vet, just can't afford to have her visiting for shots. I have over $150 in just vaccines for 9 horses yearly, that I get mail-order. I can't afford to pay for her markup and her time as well. Some of the vaccines are spaced a couple weeks apart to keep from mixing medications, possibly overloading horse systems. Multiple vet visits if we didn't do our own.

Neutering, you should check around. Perhaps the animal shelters have a location that is less expensive. I saw a semi trailer in a store parking lot once! Had spay-neuter prices on the side, people lined up outside!!

Just this year our local farm supply started selling rabies doses. One dose was about $4.00.

Sarah

I have heard that if a vet doesn't give the rabies shot and record the certification, that if your pet bites someone, the pet will still be quaranteed. We learned the hard way what happens. Our border collie nipped a neighbor girl. She went to emergency room for stitches. Hospital was required to call the county sheriff. Since we forgot to get the rabies show booster, we had to have the dog quaranteed at the local vet for ten days. That was an expensive lesson.

I don't think people need to make excuses for circumventing the vet when it comes to giving routine immunizations. The bottom line is that farmers and ranchers would go broke if they needed a vet to administer every vaccine to cattle, other ruminants including horses, livestock dogs, etc... In addition, each producer has his or her own preference on what routine to follow as the pros and cons of various products are much debated. The same is true of wormers, antibiotics, and other over the counter remedies available to farmers.

There's also no such thing as a one-size-fits-all vet, at least not in this immediate area. In my experience, some horse and cattle vets know just enough about goats and sheep to make them dangerous and their ignorance has resulted in fatalities that could have been avoided had a more qualified vet been available. Therefore, you won't always find a vet visiting a farm regularly, so the option to have the dog taken care of whiles he's there may not exist.

I can understand some suburban communities linking licenses to rabies vaccine, but not the requirement that vets administer rabies shots where licensing doesn't exist. If anything, there are fewer domestic animals (including livestock and farm dogs and cats) being vaccinated than before this law banning over the counter sales went into effect. From a public health perspective, how does that make sense?

If the states must assume that farmers and others are too untrustworthy to acually administer the shots they paid for, and that they might just attach the new tag to a dog collar instead, then they could require quantines for dogbites if the shot wasn't documented by a vet. Then animal owners could choose if they want to take the risk of paying for quarantine vs a vet. Since a cow or doe is highly unlikely to run afowl of rabies quarantine requirements, the option to give the shot would still be available to the farmer. Same thing for farm dogs that rarely if ever interact with the general public.

Yes, most people do not consider medical costs when they take on the responsibility of owning pets. I would do whatever I legally can to reduce the costs of vet bills
without the blessings of this site. Your family's health and welfare comes first.

I have also seen the reverse to it's extremes. Some folks neglect their own health and have little or no personal health insurance but pay tens of thousands over decades in vet bills as they hold animals as a higher life form than humans.

As a former veterinary assistant, I felt I needed to put in my 2 cents.

You can certainly vaccinate your own animals. However, I would find a vet who agrees with this and can give you documantation in case of emergencies. Depending on where you live, rabies vaccines MUST be given by a vet. If you do your own vaccination, keep a log of when and what for each pet. If you use single dose vials, the labels are easily peeled off to attach to your log. One of my vets did this, as we sometimes used different brands.

Now, to the reasoning behind some vets not "recognizing" the shots you gave to your animals. There is a big "non-compliance" problem among humans and their medications. They don't take them as prescribed, they store them in the bathroom or over the stove, and many other things people do with meds. If they do this with their own medications, think about what they do with those for their pets! One of the main concerns is the storage of the vaccine before it is given. Most of them must be refrigerated and cannot be without it for more than a few hours. If you bought them from a retail store, did a stocker leave them out while at lunch? Was it forgotten until the next day? If you know the store where you got them and you are sure of the employees being responsible, you should be fine. If it was shipped to you, it should be fine as long as it has a still cold "cold pack" with it.

I'm not saying all people who vaccinate do this, but this is what goes through some vets' minds, not necessarily the money. If a pet needs to be hospitalized, they don't want to expose that pet to an easily preventable disease, or others whose immunity is down to that pet that was not reliably vaccinated. But yes, some vets just want the money. You'll see this in other areas, though. Compare vets and find one you like and trust. Watch how they treat and relate to your animals. Also watch the staff, and you can probably find at least one or two you can get the "dirt" from.

That being said, if you keep a well documented log, you should not have too much trouble. Follow the directions on the label as to storage, and you can be confident that your pet is properly vaccinated. Some vets will accept your documentation and put it in as their own. One of the reasons vets like to give the vaccines is that it gets the pet in for a routine check-up, so health problems can be taken care of early.

Talk to your vet and ask if their office will accept your home vaccination schedule. If so, ask her which vaccines she recommends for your area, and her scheduling of them. It is now being recognized that many of the vaccines provide longer immunity than previously believed.

Good luck!

Kay

The first and foremost reason for rabies vaccination of pets is to utilize them as a 'barrier' placed between the human population and the widlife(sylvatic) reservoir of rabies virus. Think about it - in all likelihood, if there is a rabid bat, skunk, raccoon, fox, etc., your dog or cat - if they spend any time outdoors - are more likely to have an encounter with that animal than you are.
Pet vaccination programs have been VERY effective in reducing the number of human rabies deaths in this country, and for that reason, many, states require that rabies vaccination be performed by, or under the supervision of, a licensed veterinarian, in order to enhance the likelihood that the vaccine has been properly handled/stored and administered correctly.
It's a human public health concern, not a pet safety or monetary issue.
You may be able to purchase rabies vaccines OTC and administer them yourself, but as NebrJewel stated, the public health authorities may not recognize owner-administered rabies vaccine, and may still require mandatory quarantine or euthanasia if your animal bites someone.

Even though our rabies vaccines are quite effective, most state rabies laws/regulations recommend that even animals with current vaccination records which have an encounter with a confirmed rabid animal be euthanized - to diminish the likelihood of human exposure. However, since most pet owners are not likely to want to go this route, provisions are usually made for re-vaccination and quarantine.

Every spring and sporadically through the warm weather here there are rabies vacc clinics. Usually the lions club or fire dept or some other like organization sponsoring it. For $6 an animal you can't go wrong. Most expensive one I saw was $8.
I had both my dogs done at the clinic this year. Was a local vet and the dogs never left the car. Done before they knew what hit them. For $12 I had a lot of peace of mind with that vet signed certificate. Barely cheaper in the catalogue and that signature on the bottom is worth something should an accident happen.

As far as other shots I do give my livestock all the shots myself. My vet will write a scrip for anything I need. He knows I don't ask for nonsense. He is also very happy to sell me some of his supply at a price greater than the catalogues. Had an old horse with deep puncture wound he smiled as I asked for a tetnus booster and antibiotic. Got the money didn't have to do any of the work. Cheaper by far in the catalogue but I needed it now. Does pay to have a good vet and develop a bit of a rapport.