From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-05-11 21:27:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Distemper vaccine alternative
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "star_1977_cl" <orion77@t...> wrote:
I live in Chile and here we don't have distemper vaccines for
> ferrets. ...> This is my concern now: I'll be studying in vet
school next year. My
> ferret Ringo is not vaccinated against distemper because here the
> vets prefer not to, because all the available vaccines are for dogs
> and all of them are a combination of vaccines; there is no one just
> for Distemper. ...I've talked about this with my vet and he said he
can
> vaccinate Ringo with a dog vaccine. There's one vaccine, a triple
> one, against distemper, hepatitis and other disease that I don't
> remember now. .
>
> My questions:
> 1. Is there a possibility that Ringo catches the disease
(distemper)
> from this vaccine?
> I know that the vaccine shouldn't be cultivated in mammal tissue...
> 2. Are there more conditions for the vaccine? for example, it
should
> be a killed virus?
> 3. Are there any chances that he catches the other diseases?
> 4. Should I follow the instructions for ferrets with unknown
history
> of vaccination (2 doses and then annually)?
Dear Sole:
If the vaccine was not raised in a ferret cell line (most distemper
vaccines are now raised in avian cell lines, you are likely very
safe. Before we had ferret vaccines, I gave literally thousands of
dog vaccines, and they are the standard in most countries outside fot
he U.S.
A modified live vaccine is probably what you will have access to and
will still be safe. NO, he should not catch either of the other
diseases (I'm bettting the third one is canine parvovirus - a
parvovirus that ferrets are NOT susceptible to.)
Yes, the 2 doses and then annually should be fine.
Good luck in vet school, and good luck to you and Ringo.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM