From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2009-06-17 04:30:50 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Three distemper vaccinations, three reactions (two moderate to severe)
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Ella, Zephyr and Chin Soon all went to see our vet today to have their
regular checkups and their annual distemper vaccinations. All three
ferrets have had previous reactions to Merial Purevax. I know Merial
Purevax is supposed to have a very low reaction rate. Unfortunately my
ferrets don't seem to know that. Anyway, in the past when a ferret of
mine had a relatively minor reaction we pretreated with Benadryl the
following year and there were no problems at all. This year my ferrets
all had adverse reactions despite being pretreated, something I had
never experienced before.
The reactions included vomiting and diarrhea. Chin Soon's reaction was
relatively mild. All three received dex-s injections, another
medication to settle their stomachs (I don't remember the name right
now). Ella and Zephyr also required sub-q fluids to rehydrate them.
Zephyr, who seemed to have the most severe reaction, stayed under care
for the longest. After three hours at the vet we finally were able to
head for home thinking the worst had passed.
On the last leg of the trip home one of the ferrets (probably Zephyr,
but we can't really be sure) had nasty, seriously bloody diarrhea. I
called the vet and while my housemate watched the ferrets like a hawk
I ran out to the pharmacy before closing to get some carafate. If the
problem recurred someone was going back to the vet for the night.
Thankfully that didn't happen. Zephyr and Ella still have upset
stomachs (not unexpected) but no blood. Chin Soon had little energy
tonight but her stool is almost back to normal. Everyone involved,
ferret and human, had a very rough day. It also turned into a somewhat
expensive day, as in well over $200 all told.
Our vet volunteered that she does report reactions to the manufacturer
and to the appropriate federal agency. She said she has given other
vaccinations from this batch without problems but she didn't
completely discount the possibility of a bad batch. For that reason I
thought I had better let folks here know as well.
[Vaccine name, serial number and batch number? Knowing reactions
have happened without that doesn't really typically help much and can
cause problems because then people may avoid ones that won't cause
problems, despite the fact that the diseases prevented are so terrible,
so, please, send those.
--Moderator]
Ella will be at least eight before she is due for another distemper
vaccination. (She's a rescue so we don't know her exact birthday. She
was an adult ferret when rescued in the beginning of March, 2003.)
Our vet has already advised me not to vaccinate her again. Between her
age and the reaction it just is safer not to. Zephyr and Chin Soon
will be vaccinated next year assuming they are healthy but will be
pretreated with dexamethasone as well as Benadryl to prevent this from
happening again.
[Have you considered trying titers to see if their numbers are
low enough to warrant vaccinations before vaccinating? See:
http://www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9127
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9108
-- Moderator]
After the fourth of July weekend all go back to the vet for their
rabies vaccinations. They all have reacted to that before as well.
Rabies vaccinations are mandatory where I live so we will go ahead
with those. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of today's very long and
very unpleasant vet visit. Ella will also have blood work done then.
No, nothing is wrong. It's just something our vet likes to do every
six months to catch any problems early in ferrets over seven years
old.
There was good news today. Chin Soon's blood glucose was a nice,
normal 109. She got a clean bill of health and has completely
recovered from her April insulinoma and adrenal surgery. The vet
commented that her coat is so full now you can't even tell that she
had surgery. Her teeth and gums are still pretty nasty and she will
have them properly scaled and cleaned next visit.
Ella is also blissfully healthy. Even though she is just about blind
and sometimes bumps into things her pupils still react to a strong
light and there are no signs of cataracts. Her spleen is still
moderately enlarged but, as expected, we aren't going to worry about
that and she has no symptoms that indicate it's a problem. It's been
four and a half years since her adrenal surgery and she really has had
no problems other than vaccination reactions (now three in all) since
then.
Zephyr is the only ferret of my three who has never had a major health
issue. Despite all that happened today she had a decent amount of
energy tonight and acter like her normal self.
It's been a long day and I'm glad it's over.
------------------------------------
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