From:
ferrethealer@aol.com
Date: 2001-07-15 18:30:00 UTC
Subject: Massage and distemper vaccination
In a message dated 07/13/01 2:03:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com writes:
I said:
"Just an anecdotal thing here, with no scientific proof to it. I
have
noticed that ferrets who have the vaccine injection site massaged
gently
for a couple of minutes after the vaccine is given are less likely
to
react. Any one else noticed this?"
and Susan replied:
I also do NOT "pre-medicate", never have, not once.... but I do
always
massage the area.... really only because I felt it made it more
comfortable
for them.
In this time, between my own, kits and rescues... I have likely
given at
least 300 vaccinations. I have never had a single allergic
reaction, not
once.
Well, I usually don't premedicate and have a pretty low incidence of
reactions - I never thought about the fact that I tend to massage
vaccine
sites in ferrets, because I do that with all my patients, as I agree
that it
reduces any sting and distracts the animal from the vaccination
itself. This
came to my attention accidentally while I was vaccinating my own
business.
Fifteen of the sixteen that I was vaccinating were fine with the
whole thing,
lapped up their ferretone, got their vaccine and their back rub, and
had no
problems. One of them (for some reason my Copper was being very,
very antsy
that day) would not tolerate being touched at all - he reacted.
This made me
think, and I looked back through my records of reactions. The ones
that have
reacted for me tend to be the stand-offish ferrets, the ones that
didn't want
me messing with them. So now I tell the owners to massage, if the
ferret
won't let me do it. I've only had one reaction since, and it was
pretty
mild. I truly don't know if this means anything, but it only takes
a couple
of minutes to do, and if it does indeed reduce the reactions, I'll
keep doing
it (at least until the new vaccine comes out!). And probably even
after -
like I said, I pretty much always do.
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.