A few weeks back, I met a woman at a celebration of life luncheon who had had two cats,

[MIButterfly]

one of which lived to be 22 years old and the other (they think) to 26. She said they lived that long because she never took them to the vet and they were never vaccinated. I didn't know anti-vax was a thing in the pet world too.

I take my cats to the vet every year and they are caught up on all vaccines. I think I am being a responsible pet parent. The vet wants to see Holly every six months because she's a senior but I still only take her for the yearly checkup. She wants to see Martini every three months because she's in stage two kidney failure and Martini's first three-month follow-up is next week. The vet visits are expensive, but I figure, what price do I put on my cats' health?

Quite frankly, I take better care of their health than I do my own. And I am fully vaccinated.

[wyn borkins]

1. You Are a Caring Pet Parent, MIButterfly

And if I were your pet

I would gladly go with you

To the vet for my well-being

And of course for those treats

[spooky3]

2. Good on ya. I don't believe the woman's cats were that old,

And if they were, it was certainly not because of the (lack of) care they were given.

[Deep State Witch]

3. It's so hard to make that determination

We're in that stage with our 18-year-old tortie, Pepper, now. She is still active and eating, but has kidney disease and won't eat the nasty kidney food. (None of them do.) She's also having skin issues.

A service that we used for one of our other cats, Peaceful Passage, has a guide for "when do you know it's time." We found it to be very helpful.
https://peacefulpassage.net/end-of-life-resources/

[IbogaProject]

4. Anecdotes aren't evedence

We have all heard about some schlub who smoked until the last week of their life in their 90s, but that doesn't take account for the thousands who died in their 50s and 60s instead of their 70s and 80s.

[niyad]

5. You are a loving and responsible pet parent, and I understand.

And I have heard of any number of anti-vax pet people . Very strange.

[cksmithy]

6. All of our outdoor cats received their vaccinations as required per the vet.

Our last 2 cats, (feral kittens, eyes barely opened, never spent a day outside, after I took them home) received their vaccinations, when they were spayed. Since they never went outside, the vet agreed, they didn't require outdoor cat's vaccinations. They were never kenneled, never saw another cat, but both of them died before they were 16 years old. One had spinal deformities and tumors, the other one just died of old age. She was losing weight, skin and bones, the vets talked a lot about quality of life. She didn't like to get pets or scricthes, life was no longer happy for her. Over the years, we've probably had around 18 cats, (I am 75 years old.) About 4 of those 16 outdoor cats who were fully vaccinated, lived to be 18+ years. Vaccinations did not make a negative difference in all of their lives.

Also, we've lived on the same street since 1982, beautiful 100 years old houses, where one very religious family didn't believe in birth control, even for their cats. Their house was a flipping stray cat factory. They didn't take care of them, didn't feed them. They came begging for food, it was awful. While the neighborhood tried to help, two wonderful neighbors got many of them spayed or neutered and kept bowls of food/water on their porches for them. The cat factory family is still there, but in the past ten years not many stray cats. They probably didn't vaccinate their cats either, just like they didn't feed them.

Your cats are lucky they have you. You are a responsible cat parent and doing what needs to be done. Please take care of yourself too.

[Nigrum Cattus]

7. Vaccines for cats, just like humans are very positive

Life span of any animal, humans included is a result of many, many
factors. Genetics, diet, environment and just plain luck are the most
determinative.