Eh ignore all of the posters who say you are a bad pet owner for not taking your 100% indoor cats to the vet for an annual checkup each year. If they never go outside and you never board them it isn't really necessary.

That said, if you are considering getting a dog, you should start taking them to the vet as they will now be in contact with your dog who is going outside. Just make an appointment with the local vet to get them up to date with their shots and all that.

Op here—rabies shot that is—we asked about heartworm prophylactic and was told it was unnecessary.

FYI, OP here. It was not a big deal. Took the cats to the vet, they got a heartworm shot, several rescues have since approved us, done and done.

OP--we just went through this exact thing. I do not think you're a bad pet owner for not taking your cats to the vet regularly if they're strictly indoor and do not have any medical issues. Our cat is strictly indoor, is never boarded, and very elderly, so we try not to transport him around if we can avoid it. He last had his rabies shot in 2016 and it expired last fall. We decided we'd like to start looking at rescues for a dog, and I did disclose to the first rescue place we looked at, that our cat had not been to the vet for three years for the reasons stated above. They did say we had to have his rabies up to date and have a recent vet visit on file in order to be considered, so we took him in, got him all up to date on his records/rabies, and were pre-approved. They did not hold it against us that we hadn't taken him for a few years, but we were not able to be approved for adoption without having his rabies updated and his well visit on file. hope that helps.

Anonymous wrote:Genuine question. Is there a law/is it the law in the DC area that you take your pets to a vet for shots?

It absolutely is - people are not making this up. Here is the VA code for dogs and cats. Dogs are also supposed to be licensed in many counties and you need to show proof of vaccine to get the license.

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title3.2/chapter65/section3.2-6521/

Genuine question. Is there a law/is it the law in the DC area that you take your pets to a vet for shots?

If you do adopt a dog, you are required to take it to a vet within a few weeks. So if you're not willing to go to the vet, you can't adopt.

I agree with everyone else. They will not let someone adopt a pet that doesn’t provide wellness care to the ones they already have.

OP, why would any rescue agree to that? You are not complying with the bare minimum for the pets you already have.

^^ test the *bat*

Rabies shots are mandated by law. I think the fact that your cats aren’t up to date will be a desk-breaker for any rescue or shelter.

One spring I was a few months behind on my cat’s rabies shot but I wasn’t too concerned because he was indoor only. Then a bat (poor thing) somehow got into my house and my cat had it pinned under his paws for a moment or two. I immediately brought my cat in to the vet for a rabies shot but he would’ve had to be quarantined if we weren’t lucky enough to reach animal control at 1am; they were able to test the bar for rabies and it was negative.

So indoor cats need rabies shots too.

Anonymous wrote:Probably not but if you use a rescue that doesn't have a home visit, you don't have to reveal that you have cats.

This is fraud and extremely unfair to the org that is doing the vetting.

OP, your pets - all of them - need to be seen by a vet at least annually.