Message Number: SG18099 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2006-08-11 15:05:44 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Distemper & Rabies Shots
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com

Anaphylactic reactions are only rarely delayed. Usually a wait of 45 minutes to a hour is sufficient.

Most such reactions will occur within the first 15 minutes, but some may take a bit longer and a unlike a human (who will need to wait usually 20 to 30 minutes at an allergist's office after an allergy vaccine), a ferret can't tell you when it is having the early signs like trouble swallowing or beginning to feel slightly dizzy.

Look for any of the following, alone or in combination: sudden collapse, failure to rouse, sudden fluid loss, sudden paleness or extreme redness, difficulty breathing, swelling of face or mucus membranes, profuse diarrhea which may be extreme enough to carry blood cells through membranes, vomiting (not usual for humans so I wonder in ferrets if it is a response to the mucus membrane swelling).

In 25 years with ferrets I think that of those we have had who reacted only one was after 45 minutes and he was only a few minutes after.

Canine Distemper is a truly horrible disease which is too easily caught. You can bring it in on your shoes, for example. Once caught you can't do anything about it, and in past studies (See _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_ once symptoms show up in a ferret colony it is usually too late to vaccinate the rest if most have not already been vaccinated.

That said, if we have a ferret who has reacted to one canine distemper vaccine we then give a different canine distemper vaccine the next time.

We personally have had only two ferrets, related to each other, who reacted to the rabies vaccine. We have had maybe triple that number who reacted to one or more canine distemper vaccines. None of those have died. We have had a ferret die of a reaction to Amoxi. He is the ONLY ferret we have ever read of or heard of reacting to that antibiotic, but he was an almost life-long IBD patient who was prone to secondary infections so had had more than his share of antibiotics in the past, and reactions are most likely to happen to things to which an individual has the most exposures.

We never give the two vaccines at the same time. Here are the reasons why:
1. We want to know WHICH vaccine caused a reaction if one occurs.
2. If the ferret is allergic to a common thing in the matrix of the vaccines then the ferret will be getting larger amount of the allergen. If memory serves, you will notice in a past post in the Archives from AFERRETVET that this second concern is less of one as per a veterinary study.

Personally, we vaccinate for rabies annually, but we do take the risk of vaccinating for canine distemper every 18 months unless there is a lot of the disease locally in which case we go no longer than a year. We realize that none of the existing vaccines for ferrets have been proven to be effective for ferrets for longer than one year, so realize that this is a person choice which may carry risks, and ***follow the advice of your treating veterinarian***.

-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org





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