EXPRESS: Antibody responses to inactivated (adjuvanted) and attenuated (non-adjuvanted) feline panleukopenia virus vaccination, including in different injection sites.

Inactivated FPV vaccines provide protective immunity at hindlimb or tail sites, reducing FISS risk.

This field study evaluated antibody responses to feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) vaccination in kittens using two commercial vaccines administered at different injection sites. One hundred kittens received either an inactivated (killed) adjuvanted vaccine injected into the scruff, left distal hindlimb, or proximal tail, or a modified-live virus (MLV) vaccine given in the scruff only. Protective FPV antibody titers were measured by hemagglutination inhibition at four timepoints over 12 months. Results demonstrated no significant differences in protective antibody titers among the three injection sites for the inactivated vaccine. While MLV-vaccinated kittens showed higher antibody titers at timepoints T1 and T12 compared to inactivated vaccine recipients, the proportion of protected kittens was equivalent between groups. A single vaccination proved sufficient to generate protective antibody levels in 91% of kittens regardless of vaccine type or injection site. These findings support administering inactivated FPV vaccines at alternative sites (hindlimb or tail) rather than the scruff, reducing feline injection-site sarcoma (FISS) risk while maintaining adequate immunological protection.

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