P. MÄHL, S.
GUEGUEN and A. AUBERT
Vaccination against feline
calicivirosis, rhinotracheitis and panleukopaenia (CRP) and against FeLV is
often performed in cats via two separate injections. The possibility of
combining these fractions presents two obvious advantages; it reduces the
handling requirement of aggressive cats and also means less pain by reducing the
number of injections. The efficacy of Feligen CRP (CRP vaccine, Virbac) and
Leucogen (recombinant FeLV vaccine, Virbac) is well established when injected
separately. This study was designed to determine the safety and efficacy of
these vaccines when combined prior to injection in cats.
The safety study consisted of
overdosed and repeated injections on ten SPF kittens. For the efficacy study, 48
SPF kittens were used. Ten kittens each received one dose of Leucogen at day 0
and day 21 (group 1), 13 kittens each received one dose of Feligen CRP
re-suspended with diluent at day 0 and day 21 (group 2), 15 kittens each
received one dose of Feligen CRP re-suspended with one dose of Leucogen at day 0
and day 21 (group 3) and 10 kittens remained unvaccinated as controls (group 4).
In kittens that received the CRP/Leucogen
combination the serological responses to the calicivirus and to the
rhinotracheitis virus were significantly better (respectively p=0.001 and
p=0.003) than the reference serological responses in kittens given CRP alone.
The serological response to the panleukopaenia virus was high in both vaccine
groups. Both Leucogen and CRP/Leucogen gave highly significant protection
against challenge compared to controls (respectively p=0.005 and p=0.002) and no
significant difference was found between kittens vaccinated with either Leucogen
or CRP/Leucogen.
The results indicate that combining Feligen CRP and
Leucogen is safe and effective and can also provide a higher serological
response against the calicivirus and rhinotracheitis components which may be due
to an immunostimulating effect of the adjuvants contained in Leucogen.