From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-03-04 21:28:14 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] RE: reactions to two shots
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20040304212814.96817.qmail@web21406.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, Roger,
>
> My vet prefers the dexamethose to the Benadryl only,
> but both together is a thought. I have to ask about
> the three days prior though. Dex
> has such a short half-life (18-36 hrs in humans) -
> is three days prior really effective?
The vet in question has been treating ferrets (and
other animals) for 34 years and has taught (and I
believe still guest lectures) at the local
university's veterinary school. I trust his
judgement. I can ask him the "why" question if you
like at the next appointment.
What I can report is that Nyssa had an anaphylactic
reaction to a rabies shot. She went into shock and
was completely non-responsive. That was almost four
years ago. She's been pretreated this way each year
since and has been safely vaccinated each year. I
should point out that other than a left adrenal
surgery at age three and a half Nyssa has been a
blissfully healthy ferret. She'll be six in May.
We discussed doing the same for Podo, but his age
(nine) and other medical issues led us to believe that
*any* vaccinations at this stage in his life present
more risk than benefit. We've made the same decision
for Kodo (also nine) despite the fact that he has no
history of reactions at all.
I think the decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate
depends on the benefits vs. the risks. The point of
my post was to show that it is possible to pretreat to
avoid an anaphylactic reaction, though it takes fairly
aggressive and long pretreatment. If someone has a
ferret who has had this sort of reaction I can refer
their vet to ours for a consultation. Write me off
list for that.
All the best,
Caity and the super seven
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