From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-05-13 17:37:23 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Vaccines Reactions
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <6699327.1116005843252.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
It IS important, though, that people DO remember that these anaphylactic reactions are NOT the majority by any means among ferrets. In fact, given a large population they tend to be on the pretty-rare side.
Canine Distemper is a truly horrible and very contagious disease which can be carried in on shoes for instance, and studies of its behavior indicates that like the common saying's too late closing of the barn door there isn't much you can do after the fact; once it is in the chance of making a large dent in the number infected by vaccinating after the fact is poor since usually they have already been infected by the time you see symptoms in an established colony. (A shelter or new home may be different; it may have someone come in who has already advanced enough disease to show symtoms soon after arrival, so that rapid vaccination or re-vaccination may save more of the other ferrets.)
There are excellent reasons why vaccinations exist. They exist because the disease they prevent is so very much worse.