I said:
>"Just an anecdotal thing here, with no scientific proof to it.  I have
>noticed that ferrets who have the vaccine injection site massaged gently
>for a couple of minutes after the vaccine is given are less likely to
>react.  Any one else noticed this?"
 
and Susan replied:
 
>I also do NOT "pre-medicate", never have, not once.... but I do always
>massage the area... really only because I felt it made it more comfortable
>for them.
>
>In this time, between my own, kits and rescues... I have likely given at
>least 300 vaccinations. I have never had a single allergic reaction, not
 
Well, I usually don't premedicate and have a pretty low incidence of
reactions - I never thought about the fact that I tend to massage vaccine
sites in ferrets, because I do that with all my patients, as I agree that
it reduces any sting and distracts the animal from the vaccination itself.
This came to my attention accidentally while I was vaccinating my own
business.  Fifteen of the sixteen that I was vaccinating were fine with the
whole thing, lapped up their ferretone, got their vaccine and their back
rub, and had no problems.  One of them (for some reason my Copper was being
very, very antsy that day) would not tolerate being touched at all - he
reacted.  This made me think, and I looked back through my records of
reactions.  The ones that have reacted for me tend to be the stand-offish
ferrets, the ones that didn't want me messing with them.  So now I tell the
owners to massage, if the ferret won't let me do it.  I've only had one
reaction since, and it was pretty mild.  I truly don't know if this means
anything, but it only takes a couple of minutes to do, and if it does
indeed reduce the reactions, I'll keep doing it (at least until the new
vaccine comes out!).  And probably even after - like I said, I pretty much
always do.
 
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
 
[Sukie note: do NOT miss that there ARE qualifiers in the post; the vet
points out that this could be coincidence, but rubbing is an easy and
possibly safe thing to do (if not too much leakage of the vaccine results).
Some people have posted that their ferrets which are stressed seem more
likely to react; this interests me personally because stress increases
epinephrin output and epinephrin is what is given to REDUCE anaphylactic
shock reactions after the fact.  Allergies provide an area of true medical
mystery.]
[Posted in FML issue 3481]