The shelter mom I do a few things from afar for thinks it's time we share
this information...we wanted to give it a chance before we started getting
people's hopes up.
 
Our club was running somewhere around a 50% reaction rate to Fervac-D.
That's not including all the reactions that non-club members were having.
 
The vet (I'm in another state, so use a different vet).  Started ordering
Fervac *directly* from United.  Now, in hundreds (I don't have round
figures) of shots, something like 8 months later, there have been only a
*handful* of minor reactions.
 
This would indicate that the problem is not with what United has been
producing, but with how it's handled once it leaves United.  Somewhere
along the way, some distributer(s) may be mishandling the vaccine.
 
Coincidence?  Maybe, but probably unlikely.  So it may well be worth having
your vets order Fervac-D *directly* from United instead of their usual
distributer.  I would also likely be a good idea to note which distributers
(if the records can be found) a batch that has caused reactions came
through.
 
I agree that calling the USDA, if they are tracking such things (I had not
heard that they are), as well as United, would be a good thing.  Have your
vet give *all* the information...including what distributers have been used
that shipped out batches that caused reactions.  (As well as vets making
note of distributers that consistently have no reactions, since probably
there are some that *do* handle it correctly.)
 
The shelter's vet went from regularly dealing with moderate to severe
reactions to having nearly none by this simple step.  It all points to a
problem somewhere between United and the vet's office.  *Where* and *what*
that problem is needs to be uncovered and fixed!
 
If anyone wants specifics, you can e-mail me and I can pass on what
information I have for you or your vet to be able to talk to the sources.
 
For the record, most vets identify themselves when they call a place, no
need for a company to ask.  And we (my vet and I) have also had problems
getting someone to talk to since speaking with the original vet, so I do
believe that their customer service *is* lacking *L*.  But it is still very
much needed to contact them...probably it would be a good idea to back any
phone call reporting a reaction up with a letter...which could easily be
cc'd to the USDA, the distributer, or anyone else you wished.
 
Sue
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[Posted in FML issue 3039]