We retrospectively investigated the association between vaccination frequency and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its prognosis in cats. Cats included in the study received eight different vaccines, which contained cells derived from the cats’ kidneys. Age at onset of CKD was 15.4 ± 3.3 years in the unvaccinated group, 14.2 ± 3.1 years in the low-frequency, and 13.6 ± 2.7 years in the high-frequency vaccination group. We observed no significant intergroup difference in age at onset of CKD. The incidence of CKD was 22.6% in the unvaccinated group, 32.5% in the low-frequency vaccination group, and 49.0% in the high-frequency vaccination group, and 36.7%. The odds ratio of the high-frequency vaccination group compared to the low-frequency vaccination group was 1.99(95% CI:1.08-3.68,p<0.05). These results highlight that vaccination may serve as a risk factor for feline CKD.

A questionnaire survey administered to 100 guardians of dogs and 100 guardians of cats revealed that almost of the guardians had some experience of noticing feces attached to the perianal skin and hair coat of the animals. They thought at such times that the perianal skin and hair coat should be wiped after defecation. Many had therefore wiped the area. These guardians then participated in trials of wiping the perianal skin and hair coat with a deionized water-impregnated cotton, wet tissue, ethanol-impregnated cotton, and perianal cleaning-liquid-impregnated cotton for animals. Findings obtained from the trials indicated that satisfaction was high for materials with ethanol and perianal cleaning-liquid products, but the former was not preferred because of its smell. Subsequently executed experiments with six dogs and six cats passing Toxocara eggs into the feces demonstrated that wiping the perianal area after defecation led to a remarkable decrease in the number of egg-positive animals found in parasitological examinations using cellophane-tape perianal examination.