To mh7.aol
Wow! This is becoming a political list! Okay....
>While I cherish your advice immensly here, especially since I live in an FFZ,
>I think your advice on rabies vaccinations is poor.
>As evidenced by the KS Bite Case, even where they are legal, bites can be a
>problem and WITHOUT a vaccination, no lawyer has a chance in h**l to help any
>animal who gets into trouble this way . For FFZ ferret owners, this is doubly
>so. For example, in CA, it has taken years of work for Bill Phillips and CDFA
>to stop Fish & Game for killing confiscated animals (now they MUST ship them
>out of state). If you cannot prove vaccinations, they suddenly have a great
>case for killing them.
Gee whiz, I don't recall telling anyone NOT to vaccinate, as you seem to
be implying here. As I recall, I advocated it for people whose ferrets are in
contact with strangers - schoolrooms, nursing homes, shows, etc....especially to
ward off liability and possibly save the life of the animal from overanxious
bitees...
I said that I don't vaccinate my own, because they don't leave the
house, and I don't allow strangers around them (except under heavy supervision).
The point of vaccination is protection from disease, not protection from the
health authorities, and in my situation, my ferrets don't need protection from
rabies (as they are not exposed). Ferrets can also contract Infectious Bovine
Rhinotracheitis, but I'm not going to vaccinate for that, because my ferrets
don't come in contact with cows....
You believe, I surmise, that vaccination is necessary to allow a lawyer
to save an animal's life. I don't think that this is the case; to my knowledge,
in most of these incidents, even in the Kansas case which I HAVE been following,
the animal has simply escaped from the long arm of the law by disappearing
(unfortunately stolen in the case of Longtail). Lawyers contributed nothing to
this case except for a tremendous bill for the poor McDowells.
>In CA, it has taken years of work for Bill Phillips and CDFA
>to stop Fish & Game for killing confiscated animals (now they MUST ship them
>out of state). If you cannot prove vaccinations, they suddenly have a great
>case for killing them.
You have brought up an EXCELLENT reason for vaccination that I was not
aware of (I can't keep up with everything...). If lack of rabies vaccination
mandates a death sentence for ferrets in California, then VACCINATE. (And don't
let your ferret get confiscated.)
Rabies vaccination will not hurt a ferret. (Except for rare vaccine
reactions, which you cannot predict and everyone has heard about - Yes, they're
really rare and not a reason to avoid vaccination 1 in 10,000 or more.) But why
should I put my ferrets through the pain and discomfort of an injection for a
disease they will never come in contact with? (And ferrets are legal in
Maryland, so they won't be confiscated...)
To someone else who I can't remember concerning distemper vaccinations:
Once a year for adult ferrets is enough. I think once every six months
is a bit much, although it probably wouldn't hurt the ferret, it probably
provides no more protection than a yearly shot....
Bruce Williams
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From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 1994 20:44:46 -0500
Subject: Rabies studies
Many thanks to Katie, who knew that N.J. Fish, Game, and Wildlife specialist
Paul Kalka had asked me to try to get him copies of the European rabies studies
on ferrets. (He will pass copies on to anyone he knows who is reasonable in the
state health dept. ) Katie found the studies and sent copies! Let your vets,
health officials, and F,G&W know that they are:
1. NIH-92-26
Zbl Vet Med B
1979;26:26-38
translated from German by Ted Crump
U. Forster, State Veterinary Examination Office, Frankfort/Main
Feb., 1978
The Adaptability of two Rabies Virus Strains Isolated in Central Europe to one
Domesticated and two Wild-living Species. A Contribution to the Epidemiology of
Rabies.
Part 4: Transmission Studies on Ferrets with a Rodent isolate
2. NIH 91-444
Rev Med Vet 1982;
133 (8-9): 553-557
NIH translation of Blancou, J. et. al. Rage experimentale du furet (Mustela
(putorius) furo) Revue Med Vet 1982; 133:8-9, 553-557. (in French)
J. Blancou, M.F.A. Aubert, and M. Artois
Experimental Rabies in the Ferret (Mustela [putorius] furo)
Susceptibility - Symptoms - Excretion of the Virus
Ministry of Agriculture, Office of Quality Control, Veterinary Services, Centre
National d'Etudes sur la Rage [National Center for Rabies Studies], B.P. No. 9,
F-54220 Malzeville
She also sent Bell and Moores' 1971n study on orally administration of rabies
which found that they could not give it to ferrets orally (American Journal Of
Epidemiology, Vol. 9, #3, and a general paper on fox rabies by Jean Blancou
I had already read that the current epizooics in the U.S. are of three main
varieties with fox being the most common, raccoon increasing, and skunk being
the less common of the three (though this was a few years ago and may have
changed. I did not know that there are about 50 variations of the virus seen in
the U.S. I do not know how many of these will require their own separate
studies. I also did not know that susceptibility of one animal to any strain
can NOT be determined by how susceptible related animals are -- that ability to
contract each skips around quite a bit in and between families and orders of
mammals. Ex. Hares are much more susceptible to vulpine rabies than dogs are.
Please, remember that these animals must be sacrificed to examine brain tissue
and other tissues so the diagnoses are firm. This can't be avoided and does
ultimately save many ferret lives.
The nitty-gritty: In the Forster study: a vole strain of rabies was used with
36 ferrets. The original 6 were inoculated with the virus taken from mouse
brain. Of these only one became ill. The other ferrets were injected with the
virus from ferret brain (with a much higher rate of infection). The minimum
lethal dose was quite high. No latency time was acheived and the longest
incubation time was 5 days, with the mean disease duration being 3.4 days and no
more than 6 days. Symptoms began with slight confusion and incoordination.
Later full body convulsions were seen . Seen more rarely were jaw spasms,
excessive salivation and labored breathing. Of the 23 ferrets which they did
manage to give rabies to only one (4%) showed any sign of it in the saliva and
that was referred to as being a very small amount. None of the animals became
aggressive.
In the Blancou study fox rabies was used on 40 ferrets with intra muscular
injections of the thigh. 11 contracted it, another 3 showed significant
antibodies but did not develop the illness so it was concluded that they had
successfully fought off the illness. Note that the majority of the animals did
not contract rabies. All of the animals with rabies showed it in the
hippocampus of the brain but none in this study had any rabies in their saliva.
Of the 11 animals the longest death was after 7 days for the disease, with a
maximum latency of 87 days. Symptoms included: restlessness of apathy,
occassionally followed by some loss of control of the hindquarters, and NO
aggressive behavior.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S. we are still collecting to fund rabies shedding
studies (the time during which even an inoculated animal may shed some of the
virus). Please, send donations to: Morris Animal Foundation, 45 Inverness
Drive East, Englewood, CO 80112-5480 (or call 1-800-243-2345 with a charge card
donation) and tell them that the moneys are specifically for ferret rabies
shedding studies. If we can get every club and newsletter involved we may well
have enough to start one study THIS YEAR since we are beginning to make some
real fund raising progress. If you can't donate yourself let others with
ferrets, clubs, newsletters, friends, pet stores, breeders, etc. know about
this need! (Heck, I REALLY must be beginning to feel involved with this drive
since I don't work for M.A. F. and the only folks I know who do are people I've
never seen and didn't know before who give me progress reports, but I wrote
"we", didn't I) .
All our best, Sukie, Steve, Meltdown, Ruffle, 'Chopper the ferret helicopter,
Spot and Meeteetse
[Posted in FML issue 0737]
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