Chalmydophila can be a significant cause of disease in rescue shelters but is generally a less significant problem than respiratory viruses. Vaccination should be considered if there has been a previous history of Chlamydial disease in the shelter. Since close contact is necessary for transmission and the organism has MGP: low viability outside the host, single housing of cats and routine hygiene measures should avoid cross infection. Whenever cats are maintained together longer term, they should be vaccinated regularly.
In catteries with endemic Chlamydophila infection, the first step is generally treatment of all cats in the household with doxycycline for at least 4 weeks to attempt to eliminate the infection. In some cattery cats a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks has been shown to be necessary to eliminate natural infection. Once clinical signs have been controlled, cats should be vaccinated to provide protection against disease should re-infection of the cattery occur.
Immunocompromised cats should only be vaccinated when it is deemed absolutely necessary, and then an inactivated vaccine should be used