From:
<grape_apes@charter.net>
Date: 2007-05-01 03:22:02 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] re: rabies vax reaction
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
" rabies vaccine reaction?
Posted by: "larcd8835" larcd8835@hotmail.com larcd8835
Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:24 am (PST)
I have read that lately there have been reactions to the ferret
distemper vaccine. Has anyone heard of a reaction to the rabies
vaccine?
My wonderful ferret vet said she just had the first one she has ever
seen in her career. My recently adopted ferret needs his vaccine, and
before he get his shot, I would like to know if the reaction was an
isolated incident. "
I have had two ferrets from separate litters that have had IMRAB3 Merial rabies vaccine reactions in the past. One had his first reaction about 30 minutes after the shot (more evidence for sticking around more than a couple of minutes atrer your ferret gets vaccines!)-he had bloody diarrhea and vomiting; the second had his reaction that same day, only his was weird and happened about an hour and a half after the vaccine (I would have normally been home by then even after waiting around). He also had bloody diarrhea and some nausea, but did not have as severe a reaction as the other one (the most severe reactions will typically happen within the first 30 minutes).
If it was the one time for each, I might have questioned that it was just that batch of rabies vaccine, but the next year, the first ferret had an immediate and severe anaphylactic reaction, with trouble breathing, lethargy, bloody diarrhea and vomiting; the other one was fine and has been ever since. Needless to say, we decided that that was the last rabies vaccine the first ferret was getting! I always premed my guys with benadryl intramuscularly beforehand. Some vets and some patients have used dexamethasone SP either in addition or instead. Also, I don't get more than two of my four vaccinated at once, because I don't want to have to choose who lives and who doesn't if I have multiple reactions-there are generally at least two doctors available when I get my guys done. If you want to be really careful, do one at a time.
Each of them had had at least seven vaccines (rabies and distemper) at the point of their first reaction, so don't let anyone convince you that just because they've never had a reaction before, they won't this time. (With cats and dogs, that tends to be the case, but with ferrets it is really not.) So I always stick around for at least 45 minutes after any vaccine we give my guys, I always stagger the vaccines so they aren't getting more than one in a two-week period, and we continue to premed.
(Incidentally, though, I have a friend who has a ferret who had a severe reaction to the rabies vaccine, and we assumed it was the vaccine, so the next time he needed a vaccine, we had him stay in the hospital for the day and put in a catheter in case, but when we premedded him with the bendryl, he had the EXACT severe reaction he had had to the previous vaccine, so it looks as though he perhaps has an allergy to the benadryl of all things, not the vaccine itself... I'd never encountered THAT before!)
Best of luck!
-April (vet tech and ferret owner)
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