A cattery vaccine log needs 3 checkpoints (8, 12 and 16 weeks), 4 fields written at each of them, and a review every 6 months. Breeders who build a 4th layer — extra columns, free-text notes, a second spreadsheet — usually stop filling it in by the 2nd litter. The version that survives is short enough to finish in 90 seconds per kitten.
Baseline: 3 entries per kitten, 4 data points per entry, 2 reviews a year, 1 sheet per litter. A cattery producing 6 litters and 24 kittens a year is writing 72 rows across 12 months, which is a morning's work spread thin, not a filing system.
Why 3 Checkpoints and Not 1 or 5
Kittens carry maternal antibody for their first weeks, and that antibody neutralizes the vaccine it meets. The level falls unpredictably somewhere between 6 and 16 weeks, which is the entire argument for repeating: 1 injection at 9 weeks leaves a share of kittens unprotected if the queen was well vaccinated, and nobody can tell which ones from the outside.
Three injections at 8, 12 and 16 weeks bracket that window from both ends. Intervals run 21 to 28 days, never under 14. The 16-week entry matters most because it is the first one given after maternal antibody has almost always cleared; a kitten with 8-week and 12-week entries and no 16-week entry has 2 rows and an incomplete series.
Starting at 6 weeks, common in high-density catteries, makes it 4 checkpoints: 6, 9, 12 and 16 weeks. That is the one accepted variation. Stretching to 5 or 6 doses through week 20 raises cost and handling stress without adding coverage in a closed cattery.
What Closes Each Checkpoint
Checkpoint 1 at 8 weeks is identity plus first entry: microchip or collar code, weight, product lot. Checkpoint 2 at 12 weeks is interval plus weight again — 21 days minimum since dose 1, and the grams decide whether the schedule holds. Checkpoint 3 at 16 weeks closes the series and triggers the rabies decision, which in most US states is 1 dose at 12 to 16 weeks plus 1 booster at 12 months.
The parasite side runs in parallel, not inside this log: 1 fecal exam at 4 weeks and 1 at 14 weeks per litter, matching the grid in the deworming schedule. Those 2 exams decide whether the litter was actually cleared, and they belong on the same page because the 14-week exam and the 16-week vaccine are usually 1 visit.
The 4 Fields That Make an Entry Auditable
One: date and hour, not date alone. A dose logged at 15 weeks and 5 days is a different event from one at 16 weeks and 2 days, and the difference matters if a litter later breaks with panleukopenia. Two: product name plus lot number, 2 separate items, because a recall is answered with a lot number and nothing else.
Three: kitten ID, meaning the 15-digit microchip if implanted and collar color plus litter letter if not, so each row can be tied to a body on a scale. Four: reaction, watched 60 minutes in the clinic and 48 hours at home, coded 0 to 2 — 0 none, 1 mild soreness or 1 sleepy day, 2 needs a call (facial swelling, hives, vomiting 2 or more times in 24 hours).
Body weight in grams belongs in the margin, outside the 4 fields. It is context rather than a record, yet it is the number that decides whether the next dose moves: a kitten at 700 g in week 12 is behind, and the sheet should show the gap before the vet has to ask.
| Entry | Target week | Minimum interval | Field that closes it | Escalate if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | — | ID + product lot | weight under 600 g |
| 2 | 12 | 21 days | weight + reaction code | gain under 70 g in 14 days |
| 3 | 16 | 21 days | series closed + rabies plan | reaction code 2 |
| Review | 26 | 182 days | all 3 rows present | any missing lot number |
| Archive | 260 | 5 years | lot traceable to kitten | gap over 30 days |
The 6-Month Review: 30 Minutes, 2 Times a Year
Put 2 fixed dates on the calendar, for example 1 April and 1 October, and do 4 checks at each. Every kitten born in the previous 6 months has 3 rows. Every row carries a lot number. No lot in stock is within 90 days of its expiry date. Every reaction coded 2 has 1 written line about what happened at the 48-hour mark and whether the next dose was given.
The same review covers adults: 1 booster a year for queens and studs, with a 3-year interval only where label and vet both allow it. A cattery with 12 adults and 6 litters a year is checking roughly 60 to 80 rows per cycle, which takes 2 to 3 hours when the fields were filled at the time and closer to 10 when they were reconstructed.
Where These Logs Fail
Three failure modes produce most unusable sheets. Free-text entries (just 'fine') with no lot number, which answer nothing during a recall. Parallel pages, 1 per litter plus 1 per kitten, which drift apart within 2 months. And back-filling, where 3 months of rows get written in 1 sitting from memory and every date rounds to the nearest week.
The fix is structural: 1 row per kitten per checkpoint, 3 rows per kitten, printed before the litter turns 6 weeks old. Paper stays in the room where the kittens are weighed; the scan is the copy, never the source. Total cost of the system is 1 printed sheet, 1 scan per litter, and 3 clinic visits per kitten.
Handover and Retention
At pickup the buyer receives a 1-page extract: 3 dates, 3 lot numbers, 1 reaction line, and the microchip number in full. Keep the master sheet 5 years, the same window as the rest of the file described in cattery record keeping, because the questions that arrive at 18 and 36 months are answered from it and from nowhere else.
Budget the clinic side at roughly 60 to 150 USD for a 3-dose kitten series, or 25 to 60 USD per dose at a low-cost clinic; a full price breakdown by region sits in the cost calculator. The log itself costs 1 sheet and 90 seconds.
Do This Next
- Print 1 sheet per expected litter now, with 3 checkpoint rows per kitten and a margin column for grams.
- Write the 2 review dates (April and October) on the sheet header before the first row is filled.
- Add the microchip number on the day it is implanted, not at 16 weeks from memory.
- Log any reaction code 2 within 24 hours, with the 48-hour outcome in the same row.
- Scan the closed sheet at weaning and store it with the 5-year cattery file.
Frequently asked
How many vaccine entries should one kitten have before it leaves the cattery?
Three, at 8, 12 and 16 weeks, with intervals of 21 to 28 days. A kitten that started at 6 weeks carries 4 entries instead. Fewer than 3 means the series is open, and the 16-week dose is the one that should not be skipped, because it is the first given after maternal antibody has usually cleared.
What exactly goes into the four recorded fields?
Date plus hour, product name plus lot number, kitten ID (15-digit microchip or collar code plus litter letter), and a reaction code from 0 to 2 with the 48-hour outcome. Body weight in grams goes in the margin as context. Those four items are enough to answer a recall, a buyer question at 36 months, or a vet asking what happened after dose two.
Why review the log every six months instead of once a year?
A six-month cycle splits the year into two batches of roughly 30 to 40 rows in a six-litter cattery, so a missing lot number is caught while the litter is still on site. An annual review arrives after kittens have been sold, and a gap at that point cannot be reconstructed from memory with dates that hold up.