From:
Natasha Mohr
Date: 2001-12-24 20:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Canine distemper
Well, here's where I probably stick my foot in a big pile of ferret poop by
saying this, but... none of our five fuzzies were vaccinated for anything
this year when the time came.
Before everyone gets ready to burn me at the stake, let me tell you about
my little ones. Xena (the one who recently had adrenal surgery) had a
*very* severe anaphylactic reaction a few years ago to one of her vacs
(don't know which one, because we were dumb and gave them both at the same
time). She lost consciousness and almost died right in front of
me. Luckily, because we have five and she was the first to be vaccinated,
we were still right there with the vet when the reaction began. There was
much bloody poop and vomit after we got her awake again, but she finally
recovered after a few days. After that, our vet refused to vaccinate her,
but we continued to vaccinate the others.
A year ago September, Gabrielle, Xena's litter-mate, had a reaction to her
rabies shot. So bizzarre -- she's five and has been getting vacs all her
life with no problems. It was pretty severe -- she vomited blood and had
bloody poop, but she never lost consciousness.
This summer, our youngest baby, B'Elanna, had an equally severe reaction to
her rabies vac. She was about 6 months old at the time.
Sooo, that makes 3/5 of our brood who have had reactions. Our vet is at a
loss, but she agrees with our decision not to vaccinate anyone anymore.
The moral of this long tale, I suppose, is that it's a risk/benefit
calculation. We decided that the risks weren't worth the benefits, but
someone else's situation may be different. We have no outside animals, and
we live in an urban area and a relatively cold climate. I just don't want
to go through losing a fuzzy to a vaccination that was supposed to *save* her.
-Natasha Mohr