2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

A total of 24 male and female 5-month-old purpose bred kittens from a FHV-1 na€ ıve barrier facility that were shown by PCR assay to be negative for nucleic acids of Mycoplasma spp, FHV-1, and FCV from materials collected from the oropharynx and seronegative for FHV-1 antibodies were purchased and randomly divided into three groups of eight kittens (four males, four females). Group 1 kittens were maintained as unvaccinated controls, Group 2 kittens were administered 1 dose of the inactivated FVRCP vaccine SQ on Day 0 (Ultra TM Fel-O-Vax Ò , Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.), and Group 3 kittens were administered 1 dose of the MLV FVRCP vaccine SQ on Day 0 (Pur-eVax; Merial LTD). The kittens were housed and handled separately to avoid cross-contamination of the MLV vaccine virus among groups for the duration of the study. A standardized clinical score system was applied to each Group of kittens by 2 masked observers for 30 minutes each day of the study. After the clinical scores were collected on Day 7, all 24 kittens were administered 10 5.3 TCID 50 of a USDA challenge strain of FHV-1 (0.1 mL per nostril and 0.3 mL into the oropharynx). Group clinical scores were compared among study periods using Kruskal Wallis with pair-wise comparison and significance defined as P < 0.05.