Hello ormee, and welcome to the site!

Wow! What an impressive family of furbabies you must have had! Many purrs and kitty nose kisses to all of them, past and present!
This can be a confusing issue, especially since the cats are indoors all the time like mine are.
If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out my experience with booster shots and my cat's terrible reaction! http://petoftheday.com/talk/Forum13/HTML/000066.html

After going through that experience, I'm usure if I ever want to get booster shots and put him through that again! Since they're inside, they are not exposed to anything...so it's a hard decision for me. Although, when we go on vacation, we usually have a family memeber, friend, or pet sitter come to the house to care for the animals so they do not have the issue that you may have with the cat kennel.

I would think that if you are uncomfortable about not getting the shots, then go for it. As long as the shot isn't givin in the same location all the time, the chance for sarcomas is limited. Vets have started giving shots in different locations to reduce the possibility of sarcoma, and now the rabies shot is only once every 3 years. As long as your cat doesn't have a horrible reaction to the shot, it's much easier to just go ahead and get it done with all the others. The vet should understand your concerns, and I agree with you that it would probably be a little more traumatic to the cat to go and get blood drawn every time. A few of the members on this forum mentioned to me that I might look into a cat only vet, after the experience I had. You could consider this if you get uncomfortable with your current vet's approach to things. Go with your feelings, chances are they are right.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

Karen

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"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." - English proverb