Re: Rainbow Bridge vaccinations
>If anyone has any suggestions for me please let me know.  Please be kind I
>feel horrible for feeling like "this would never happen to me" and not
>treating each second I had with Belle like it was the last.  I took my poor
>baby out of her warm bed out into the cold to deliver her to her death.
 
While I know words can sometimes be little comfort, please know that it
wasn't your fault.  You were having your ferrets vaccinated because you
cared about them and wanted to safeguard them from disease and death.  You
didn't say which vaccinations you had done, but both rabies and distemper
are extremely nasty and fatal diseases.  With distemper being so easily
spread, I think the risks of not vaccinating definately outweigh the risks
of reactions - and I'm far from a stranger to the type of reactions you
saw.  We nearly lost our first ferret Squirt to his first yearly booster
for rabies.  Unfortunately, we had both rabies and distemper done at the
same time the first year so it wasn't until the next year that we were 100%
sure which vaccine did it.  Unfortunately, rabies was the first we tried
the second year so he reacted again.  Thankfully, he was pre-medicated
first which made the reaction a bit less severe.
 
Our other male, Atlas, reacts to distemper.  The pre-medication helps
control the reaction somewhat and his reaction hasn't been as severe as
Squirt's ever were.  Unfortunately I think the stress of it all makes
Atlas' reaction somewhat stronger then it would otherwise be.
 
Please don't feel it is your fault.  It's not.  I am truly sorry for your
loss.
 
By the way, when our Squirty had his first reaction, the Vet's office had 2
other animals react to vaccinations that day (a puppy and a cat) - highly
unusual.  They pulled all the vaccines that they had gotten in that
shipment.  After speaking with the manufacturer about it, they guessed that
the vaccines had gotten frozen during the bitter winter weather that was
happening during the shipment of those vaccines.  They suspected that the
vaccines thawed before delivery, but the suspensions separated somewhat and
caused the vaccinations to be of more concentrated material.  While there
was no proof that this did indeed occur, it is something for people in cold
winter climates to consider.
 
-kim, pippi (I need me a raisin!), atlas (I need me some kibble!), jinx (I
 need loving!), and rosie (Snuggle me!)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]    |<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 2912]