From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-04-29 14:05:00 UTC
Subject: Re: lump at vacine site
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "deena" <dhaner@t...> wrote:
> Kiwi, my 2 year old female had her Imrab rabies shot on April 11.
She
> developed a hard lump at the site which remains today, 16 days
later. My
> other 3 ferrets had their vaccines the same day, but none of them
have this
> lump. My vet is out of town for a week, should I be concerned, or
will it go
> away on it's own?
At this point, I would not be concerned. Hard lumps at the site of
vaccine are almost always the result of a reaction of the body
against the vaccine and the formation of an inflammatory nodule.
This is not the normal reaction, but it it not a major problem,
either.
Usually what we do is give it a month or so - if it hasn't resorbed
be that time, then we remove it (it probably has been walled off by
the body and at that point, resoprtion is possible.
What causes these? Well, sometimes it is abnormal placement of the
vaccine into the skin rather than the subcutaneous tissue below, or
that it is put into an area which is poorly perfused by blood
vessels, etc. It is an uncommon occurence at any rate.
Could it be a tumor, as we occasionally see at sites of vaccination
in cats? Very unlikely - it has been reported once, as opposed to the
vastly more common inflammatory nodule. That's why we don't have to
rush to surgery.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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