From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-05-07 18:25:46 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Distemper vaccination for ferret who has reacted to 2 different vaccines?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20050507182547.29750.qmail@web50802.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, Sandy, and everyone else,
I am very, very sorry you lost Snoopy to an
anaphylactic reaction to his distemper vaccine.
That's a horrible thing to go through and my heart
goes out to you.
I think you are making a terrible mistake, though,
ruling out the Merial Purevax vaccine for other
ferrets in the future. Purevax has the lowest
reaction rate of any of the three major ferret
distemper vaccinations. Yes, a reaction can happen to
any of the vaccines. Anaphlyactic reactions are rare
to *any* vaccine but a life threatening (or in poor
Snoopy's case) life taking reaction can also happen to
*any* vaccine. Most ferrets are still best off with
Purevax.
Not vaccinating is a horrible choice as several parts
of the country have had distemper outbreaks in recent
years. Distemper is nearly 100% fatal in ferrets and
it's a horrible death. I wouldn't wish it on any
ferret.
Nyssa had an anaphylactic reaction to a rabies vaccine
when she was one year old. She threw up, had bloody
diarrhea, and then went into shock and nearly died,
all within minutes of her vaccination. Here's the
part that will surprise you: she's had the same
rabies vaccination every year since and our vet has
successfully prevented another reaction. Nyssa goes
to the vet four four consecutive days. The three days
prior to the vaccine she gets dexamethasone injections
and on the day of the vaccine she gets both
dexamethasone and benadryl before her rabies shot.
This makes Nyssa a bit sleepy but she's never had an
adverse reaction again.
Podo had an even more severe reaction to his rabi when
he was eight. He threw up first then his face swelled
up and he turned bright red. He continued to swell
everywhere and had difficulty breathing. Our vet had
to treat him with steroids and put him in an ovygen
tent. Thankfully Podo survived but it was a near
thing. The only reason he didn't get the same
protocol as Nyssa when he was nine was due to the fact
that by then he had multiple health problems. We
chose not to vaccinate but we're talking about a nine
year old with major issues, not a healthy three year
old.
If Bebo were mine I'd vaccinate. If you vet can use a
distemper vaccine like Galaxy-D that he hasn't reacted
to that is probably the best course. If that also
doesn't work look into pretreatment with steroids in
the future. It really does work and is the reason
Nyssa could continue to go out in public and be a
spokesferret at our club's education days.
BTW, Nyssa is still here and she's seven years old
now. The only reason we won't vaccinate this year is
because she's struggling with lymphoma. Our vet does
not vaccinate ferrets with compromised systems.
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic five
__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail Mobile
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail