Cat's Out of the Bag! The PUREVAX® Team Announces Multi-City Cat Café Tour and Sponsored Cat Adoptions for Adopt-a-Cat Month

News provided by

Jun 21, 2017, 08:00 ET

DULUTH, Ga., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Though veterinarians recommend vaccinating cats to help them develop immunity against a number of diseases, many go unvaccinated. In fact, cats account for the majority of domestic animals with rabies in the U.S.¹, a fatal disease preventable by vaccination². To educate new and experienced cat owners about the importance of vaccinating their feline friends, while also encouraging cat adoptions, the maker of PUREVAX^® Feline Rabies vaccines is launching a multi-city cat café tour this summer.

The tour will feature meet-and-greets with popular, cat-loving bloggers and influencers, as well as educational information about the importance of vaccination. Consumers can join the fun at the following cat cafés:

Java Cats Café in Atlanta, GA on Friday, June 30
KitTea Cat Café in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, July 8
Blue Cat Café in Austin, TX on Saturday, July 15
Pounce Cat Café + Wine Bar in Charleston, SC on Friday, July 28

Additionally, the PUREVAX team will sponsor admission fees for all event participants, as well as for the first 10 cat adoptions at the Atlanta, Austin and Charleston events.

"Adopt-a-Cat Month is during the peak of kitten season and many people are adding a cat or kitten to their household during this time. We want every cat owner, and in particular new cat owners, to understand the importance of preventive healthcare," says Mike Hutton, Head of U.S. Pet Vet Marketing at Boehringer Ingelheim. "After listening to cat owners and veterinarians nationwide, we know that many cat owners don't understand the need for regular vaccination and we feel it's our responsibility to educate them about how relevant and important this topic is – for all cats."

Rabies occurs in more than 150 countries and territories around the world³. It is caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system, and once symptoms appear, rabies is almost always fatal¹. However, rabies is preventable through vaccination².

PUREVAX Feline Rabies vaccines provide protection without the need for adjuvants, vaccine additives that can present potential risks to feline patients, such as injection site reactions and chronic inflammation^4,5. PUREVAX Feline Rabies vaccines are the only rabies vaccines made specifically for cats. They are pure, safe and proven to provide effective protection.

"We are excited to work with the PUREVAX team to raise awareness about the need for cat vaccinations, in particular for the rabies virus," said Hadyn Hilton, owner, Java Cats Café. "We ensure that every cat or kitten that we care for has its necessary health screenings, including vaccinations, before it is placed in its forever home. The PUREVAX team's adoption sponsorship will allow us to support and vaccinate even more cats in the future."

For more information about PUREVAX Feline Vaccines, visit www.PurevaxPureProtection.com.

About Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health
As the second largest animal health business in the world, Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to improving animal health. With more than 10,000 employees worldwide, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health has products available in more than 150 markets and a global presence in 99 countries. For more information about Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, click here.

Boehringer Ingelheim
Innovative medicines for people and animals have for more than 130 years been what the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim stands for. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the industry's top 20 pharmaceutical companies and to this day remains family-owned. Day by day, some 50,000 employees create value through innovation for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around 15.9 billion euros. With more than three billion euros, R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.6 per cent of net sales.

Social responsibility comes naturally to Boehringer Ingelheim. That is why the company is involved in social projects, such as the "Making More Health" initiative. Boehringer Ingelheim also actively promotes workforce diversity and benefits from its employees' different experiences and skills. Furthermore, the focus is on environmental protection and sustainability in everything the company does.

More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

Sources:

Birhane MG, Cleaton JM, Monroe BP, et al. Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2015. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2017;250(10):1117-1130.
What is rabies? World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/rabies/about/en/. Accessed May 24, 2017.
Rabies. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/. Updated March 2017. Accessed June 5, 2017.
Greene CE, Levy JK. Immunoprophylaxis. In: Greene CE, ed. Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders; 2012:1163-1205.
Day MJ, Schoon HA, Magnol JP, et al. A kinetic study of histopathological changes in the subcutis of cats injected with non-adjuvanted and adjuvanted multi-component vaccines. Vaccine. 2007;25:4073-4084.

®PUREVAX is a registered trademark of Merial.
©2017 Merial, Inc. Duluth, GA. All rights reserved. Merial is now a part of Boehringer Ingelheim. [PV_PressRelease] (6/17)

SOURCE Boehringer Ingelheim