You would be amazed how well most dogs tolerate acupuncture. Some dogs are very needle sensitive. If they're very tender, then maybe acupuncture is not the best choice for them. But I would say that nine times out of 10, most dogs don't even know that we're putting the needles in. Once the needles are in place, you can just see their bodies relax, and they get very sleepy.

We'll bring in a patient. We usually put a big mat on the floor in the exam room and have them stand there. Usually, I'll begin my acupuncture appointment with feeling along the meridians and channels and looking at how the animal moves, what they're here for. I usually have a point prescription already figured out. We've seen the patient or have had a list of records, so I know what I'm going to be treating. I like to see the patient move before I start. Once I place all the needles into the prescribed points, we let them sit there for about 10 minutes. We'll turn the lights off in a nice, restful, dark space, so the pet can relax and be comfortable before we remove the needles and return the dog to you.

There’s really nothing to do other than to bring the pet in. We like to have them relaxed and comfortable. I suppose the one thing not to do is bring them in with wet fur.

I guess the answer would be to get in ASAP and get it done. In some cases, like how I mentioned before, if you go too long between certain intervals depending on their age or what vaccine it is, you may have to restart the series. You may have to start back over and give an extra booster. So the timing is essential, and you don't want them to have a lapse in it. Get them updated as soon as you can.

Yes, absolutely. As a kitten, they'll be closer together until they achieve their appropriate immunity. As adults, they go to different intervals as we space them out—the FVRCP can ever be every three years, and rabies and Bordetella, depending on which ones your cat gets.

I'd say, typically, the answer is yes. Often we do multiple at a time, but there are some considerations. Even when people get many vaccines, some people do feel more groggy or just a little sick or don't feel well in general. So when necessary for timing or certain situations of the cat, absolutely. We can and do multiple vaccines together, but that is why we split things up as they get older.

We try to rotate things. We have three-year vaccines if they can stretch out that far. We try to do, say, the rabies vaccine on an alternating year, change things up a bit so that they're not getting as much at once.

I'd say typically, no. There is some debate on that, even with dogs. There aren’t a lot of good studies that show that, yes, this breed is necessarily different from another breed. We want to be careful in general, depending on age, size, and how many vaccines are given. But no. I would say that there's not a breed predisposition for that.

If your cat needs a non-core vaccine, then there's probably a reason why your cat should get that. If your cat has a significant autoimmune medical condition or something that would make it unsafe to get vaccines, we may have conversations about that. Or if your cat is a sibling or has had previous cancer from an injection, we'd have serious discussions about that. But all in all, if your cat has a risk factor for a non-core vaccine, then we're going to recommend that vaccine.

Technically, yes, but that is even rarer. This has been known for years. The numbers haven't changed a whole lot in how common it is, although you'll see some, one in 1,000, 1 in 10,000. It does appear to have a genetic nature to it, but it is a rare occurrence. However, if it were your cat or my cat, I mean, who cares if it's rare. It's significant, and it's a big deal. It's a big problem, but it's not a reason to be afraid of vaccines. The benefits of vaccines far outweigh that risk. Still, if you have a cat that you know is related to a cat that had one of those cancers related to injection, then we would have a serious talk about whether or not your cat should be vaccinated as well if they're actual siblings. So the risk is there. It is pretty low.

I guess another thing to think about, too, would be the recombinant vaccines. I know we haven't talked about that a whole lot, but that's part of the reason why those came out. There are different ingredients in vaccines. An adjuvant is a common word that they use for extra ingredients, and some of them are designed to cause stimulation to further make the immune system react to the vaccine. Well, they aren't sure, and they do see some link potentially to that. But the more reactive a vaccine could be for a cat with a genetic predisposition, that might make that cat more likely to get a cancer response to certain vaccines.

That's the reason we talk about the recombinant rabies vaccine, the non-adjuvanted rabies vaccine, and leukemia vaccines that come in that form where we talk about the risk versus benefit of considering one of those vaccines as it may decrease the risk for cancer in some cats.