Merck survey points to communication gap in feline vaccination
Bottom line
Merck Animal Health says a newly published global survey points to a clear communication gap around feline vaccination, and that gap may be limiting compliance. In the study, which included 1,330 veterinarians and 5,071 cat owners across 14 countries, 71% of cat owners said their cat had seen a veterinarian in the previous year, and 65% said their cat had been vaccinated before. But owners and veterinarians differed sharply on what drives feline health: just 16% of cat owners identified vaccination as a key contributor, versus 69% of veterinarians. The survey also found that 58% of cat owners rely on their veterinarian as their primary vaccine information source, while only 23% of veterinarians reported discussing the importance of vaccination with cat owners. (citedrive.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the findings suggest the opportunity may be less about access and more about consistent education. Merck’s survey found that owners who skip vaccination often believe it’s unnecessary for healthy cats or indoor cats, while veterinarians cited poor client understanding, misinformation, and anti-vaccine attitudes as leading barriers. That aligns with existing feline care research showing cats remain an under-served patient group, with transportation stress, visit difficulty, and uneven preventive-care communication all contributing to missed care. Current AAHA/AAFP feline vaccination guidance also emphasizes individualized risk assessment and client conversations, rather than one-size-fits-all protocols. (citedrive.com)
What to watch: Expect practices, manufacturers, and feline-focused groups to put more emphasis on reminder systems, indoor-cat education, and visit-friendly workflows that make vaccine discussions easier to have and easier for pet parents to act on. (citedrive.com)
Merck Animal Health is using new survey data to argue that feline vaccination rates could improve if veterinarians and cat parents close a basic knowledge gap. The company announced publication of a global survey of 1,330 veterinarians and 5,071 cat owners in 14 countries, finding that owners and clinicians often don’t see feline vaccination the same way, even when cats are already making it into clinics. According to the survey summary, 71% of cat owners said their cat had seen a veterinarian within the previous year, and 65% said their cat had been vaccinated before. (citedrive.com)
The biggest disconnect was around perceived value. In the survey, only 16% of cat owners said vaccination was a key contributor to feline health, compared with 69% of veterinarians. Cat owners said their top reasons for vaccinating were maintaining their cat’s health, at 62%, and a veterinarian’s recommendation, at 57%. Veterinarians, meanwhile, viewed reminders as the top driver, cited by 71%. Owners who chose not to vaccinate most often said vaccines were unnecessary for healthy cats or indoor cats, both at 27%. (citedrive.com)
That “indoor cat” belief isn’t new, and it helps explain why this issue keeps resurfacing. The 2020 AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines stress that vaccine decisions should be tailored to the individual cat, not reduced to a single factor like whether the cat goes outdoors. The guidelines also frame client education as part of the care process, noting that veterinary teams should be prepared to explain protocols, answer questions, and discuss overall feline wellbeing. (aaha.org)
The Merck-backed survey also points to a practical contradiction for clinics: veterinarians remain the most trusted vaccine information source, cited by 58% of cat owners, but only 23% of veterinarians in the survey said they discuss the importance of vaccination with cat owners. That suggests a missed opportunity during visits, especially because the same dataset indicates cats are reaching practices at meaningful rates. Merck has been investing heavily in feline immunization, including the September 24, 2024, U.S. announcement of NOBIVAC NXT FeLV, an RNA-particle feline leukemia vaccine, while publicly emphasizing the need for stronger awareness around feline infectious disease prevention. (citedrive.com)
Broader feline-care research adds more context. The Bayer veterinary care usage study, still widely cited in feline practice management, found that cats represented a substantial missed opportunity for the profession, with many practices believing they could absorb more feline visits without major operational changes. That work also documented persistent barriers including carrier resistance, transport stress, and owners’ negative perceptions of the veterinary visit, while showing that many cat parents were not fully aware of recommended exam frequency or ways to reduce visit stress. (catvets.com)
Industry and academic literature broadly support the idea that veterinarian communication matters. A recent PubMed-indexed survey on vaccine information and trust among dog and cat parents concluded that most pet parents trust their veterinarian, though a meaningful minority do not, underscoring how important the clinical conversation remains. Earlier studies of cat parent attitudes in Europe likewise found that veterinarian recommendations are strongly associated with vaccination decisions. Taken together, that supports Merck’s central argument, even if the new survey should still be read with the usual caution applied to manufacturer-backed research. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is a workflow and messaging story as much as a medical one. If cats are already coming into practice, but vaccine value isn’t landing, then the intervention may be as simple, and as difficult, as standardizing the conversation. That could mean clearer indoor-cat risk counseling, stronger reminder systems, technician-led education, and more feline-friendly visit support so the trip itself doesn’t become the reason preventive care gets deferred. It also matters commercially: feline preventive care has long been viewed as underdeveloped relative to canine care, making compliance gains meaningful for both patient health and practice revenue. (citedrive.com)
What to watch: The next step will be whether practices translate these findings into measurable changes, such as protocol-based vaccine counseling, cat-specific reminder campaigns, and reduced-stress handling initiatives, and whether future publication of the full paper provides country-level detail or subgroup analysis that helps clinics target the most common compliance gaps. (citedrive.com)