From:
"Barbara Clay"
Date: 2009-02-11 22:45:10 UTC
Subject: Splitting vaccines, half-doses Re: [ferrethealth] Digest Number 1433
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Dear Dr. Ruth,
Thank you so much for you input. As the Shelter Rep/The Ferret
Council I've recently received so many inquiries about half-doses. It
seems there is some seriously bad advice being given on a grand scale
by a trustee of the shelter community. It's a powder keg to say the
least, putting entire households and shelters at risk! Thank you for
all the clarification.
It pains me to see a disease that we have most control over, being
compromised. No ferret should ever have to die of distemper. When in
doubt, do a titer test, but half-dose is no dose, and as you wrote,
even worse! I so hope the folks involved in this "new" approach to
vac'ing for distemper are wrapping their brains around what you've
written!
On the issue of half-doses. Once a vaccine is diluted, it has a
shelter life, and certainly not a week later, but would you please
give us that effective shelf-life of a vaccine once it is diluted.
This question is not posed for those that are embracing the half-dose
regimen (PLEASE STOP), but for us all vac'ing our own ferrets in our
charge.
Thank you!
Barb Clay
Shelter Rep/The Ferret Council
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, ferrethealer@... wrote:
>
>
>
> In a message dated 02/11/09 3:32:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com writes:
>
> Wouldn't splitting the dose and giving half one week and the rest the
> next almost be equivalent to baby boosters?
...
>
> **No, it is not equivalent and I do not support that practice in any
species.
> As I said, I have seen animals that have developed the disease they
were
> supposedly protected against after having vaccines given in half doses.
>
> As far as vaccinating one week and then again the next, that will
actually
> lead to more problems, as the first vaccine can lead to immune
suppression as
> the body responds to it, and then when the next vaccine is given the
body has no
> ability to respond to it left. That is why vaccines should always be
> separated by a minimum of two weeks and three weeks is preferable.
>
> The better course of action in your parents cat would be to run a
titer and
> see if the cat needed a booster vaccine at all. It has been proven
in cats
> that immunity can last for three years or sometimes longer.
>
> Dr. Ruth
>
> *****************************************
> Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
>
------------------------------------
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