Charlie, our sweet 3-year-old ferret, had a severe reaction to Fervac
Friday evening.  Two years ago he had a mild reaction; last year he was
pre-treated with Benadryl and had no reaction.  This time he received a
Benadryl injection before the vaccination; about 10 minutes after receiving
Fervac he started to vomit.  He went limp and his nose turned bright red.
His vet, Dr. Stacy DiMaria of West Frederick Veterinary Hospital,
immediately gave him a shot of dexamethasone, but this wasn't enough to
stop the reaction.  She gave him epinephrine, and even after this, he was
still very weak and had trouble breathing.  Charlie was then given oxygen.
About 2 hours after the vaccination, Charlie was still lethargic, his color
wasn't normal, and he had episodes of labored breathing.  We were very
grateful that Dr. DiMaria and her staff stayed long beyond closing time
to attend to Charlie.  At about 10 p.m.  we decided to take Charlie to an
emergency clinic so he could be monitored overnight.  Dr. DiMaria felt he
was stable enough for the trip and called the emergency clinic to tell them
to expect us.  Charlie spent the night at the emergency clinic; fortunately
he didn't require any further treatment except Benadryl.  We brought him
home the next morning, with instructions to give him Benadryl every 8 hours
for 3 days and the recommendation never to vaccinate him again.  When Dr.
DiMaria called to see how Charlie was, she said she had never seen a
ferret take so long to respond to treatment.  Over the weekend Charlie
was sleepier than usual but otherwise back to normal.  We're very happy
to have him back home; it's scary that we came so close to losing him.
 
Clare and Bill Sebok
 
with Buttercup, Bridgett, Bonnie, and Charlie the ferrets
Patrick the Sheltie
Felix the cat
[Posted in FML issue 3327]