Should Cat Breeders Vaccinate Kittens Themselves Or Use A Vet?

One of the questions I get asked a lot is whether cat breeders should immunise kittens themselves or take them to the vet to be vaccinated.

My answer is easy. I take my kittens to the vet.

I’ve never done my own kitten vaccinations. I’m perfectly capable of doing it, and I could access the vaccines if I wanted to, but I choose not to. For me, the vaccination appointment is not just about the vaccination. It’s also about the kitten health check that happens at the same time.

When you’re breeding kittens, those vet checks matter. They give another set of trained eyes on the kitten before that kitten leaves you and goes to a new home. That’s valuable for you, it’s valuable for the kitten, and it’s valuable for the family buying the kitten.

Why I Use The Vet For Kitten Vaccinations

When I take kittens to the vet for their vaccinations, the vet checks them over at the same appointment. That’s one of the biggest reasons I want the vet involved.

Over the years, we’ve had things picked up during those visits. Not every appointment turns into something dramatic, and most of the time everything is perfectly fine, but sometimes the vet finds something we need to know about before that kitten leaves.

I’ve had things like teeth issues picked up. I’ve had heart concerns picked up. I’ve had male kittens where the testicles were not down yet, which matters when they’re going to be desexed later. There have also been other general health things that were worth knowing about at the time.

If I had vaccinated those kittens myself at home, I would have missed that extra check.

That’s the part I think breeders need to think about. It’s not just whether you can give a needle. It’s what you might miss by not having a vet check the kitten properly.

Can Cat Breeders Vaccinate Kittens Themselves?

Some breeders do vaccinate their own kittens. I understand that this happens, and I also understand that in some situations, a breeder might have a practical reason for doing it.

If you live a long way from the vet, or you truly can’t get to the vet easily, then I can understand why you might need to make a different decision. There are breeders in regional and remote areas, and not everyone has a clinic around the corner.

But if the reason is cost, I don’t agree with it.

When you sell a kitten, the owner is paying for the care that went into raising that kitten. They’re paying for the feeding, the vet work, the vaccinations, the desexing if that’s part of your program, your time, your experience and the proper preparation of that kitten.

The vet work is not an optional extra. It’s part of what the kitten buyer is paying for.

Kitten Vaccinations Are Part Of The Value You Provide

My kittens currently sell for $3,500. There are kittens in Australia that sell for more than that, and there are kittens that sell for less. That price is the right place for me at the moment.

But no matter what a breeder charges, the kitten buyer is still paying for value. They’re not just buying the kitten itself. They’re buying the work that has gone into getting that kitten ready to leave.

That includes proper health care.

When someone pays good money for a kitten, I think they deserve to know that kitten has been checked by a vet. They deserve to see that the vaccinations have been done through a clinic. They deserve to have that extra confidence before they bring their kitten home.

And from a breeder’s point of view, it protects you too. If something is picked up before the kitten leaves, you can deal with it properly. You can make decisions with your vet. You can speak clearly with the owner. You’re not finding out later when the kitten is already in its new home.

Vet Checked Kittens Give Buyers More Confidence

We hear breeders say all the time that they’re finding it harder to sell kittens. The market changes. Buyer confidence changes. People are careful with money, and they should be.

So if you’re breeding kittens, you need to make sure people understand the value of what you’re offering.

If your kittens have been to the vet twice for vaccinations, or three times depending on your protocol, that matters. If they’ve had proper kitten health checks, that matters. If you can show that you’ve done things properly, that helps your buyers feel more confident.

This isn’t about making a fancy claim. It’s about showing the real care behind the kitten.

A kitten that has been properly vet checked is more attractive to a good buyer than a kitten where the breeder has done the bare minimum at home to save money.

I’ve Been Disappointed As A Kitten Buyer Too

I’ve also been on the other side of this as a buyer. I once bought a cat that cost me over $10,000. When I got his vaccination card, I saw that his vaccination had been done by the owner of the cat, not by a vet.  I was disappointed.

It wasn’t about the small amount of money that vaccination would have cost compared to the price of the cat. It was the feeling of paying that much and then realising the breeder hadn’t taken him to the vet for that appointment.

I remember thinking, for the amount I paid, you couldn’t even take the cat to the vet and have the vaccination done with a proper health check?  That stayed with me, because it changed how I felt as the buyer. I don’t want my own kitten buyers to feel that way.

Should You Vaccinate Kittens Yourself To Save Money?

If the reason you’re vaccinating kittens yourself is because you truly can’t get to the vet, I can understand that. But if the reason is to save money, I don’t think that’s good enough.

When it comes to things like vaccinations, desexing, health checks and what you feed your kittens, those are part of the standard of care your buyers are paying for. If you start cutting corners there, you’re taking value away from the people who are paying you for a well raised kitten.

And more importantly, you’re removing an opportunity for that kitten to be properly checked before it leaves.

My Answer Is The Vet

So my answer is simple. I take kittens to the vet for their vaccinations.

Not because I can’t do it myself. Not because I don’t understand why some breeders make a different decision. But because I believe the benefits of going to the vet far outweigh doing the vaccinations myself at home.

The kittens get checked. The owners get reassurance. I get proper records. And if anything needs to be picked up, it has a much better chance of being noticed before the kitten leaves. For me, that’s part of breeding properly.

If you’re a new breeder, this is the kind of decision that shapes the way people see you and your cattery. It’s not just about the cost of the vaccination. It’s about the standard of care you’re building into your breeding program from the start.