Ruby-
 
I think the vets are incompetent, and your friend is VASTLY misinformed.
Canine distemper is VERY contagious--you can carry the virus in on your
shoes.  Annual vaccines are required to keep the titer up enough to
protect your ferrets from a horrible death or a life with vast
neurological damage.  Most ferrets die from distemper.  The few that
survive are badly damaged for life.  The kit shots do not protect them
enough.
 
Rabies vaccines, in my opinion, are much less critical.  Mostly because
all the ferrets I know are kept inside, and the risk of them being exposed
to a rabid animal is much less.  If you house your ferrets outside for
extended periods, I would be sure to vaccinate them.  The main way rabies
vaccinations save ferrets is if they nip someone, and the person is a
nervous Nelly.  If you can show a vaccination paper, they are much more
likely to "forget it" than if you don't have the paper.  Otherwise,
depending on the state you live in, they could be taken from you and put
in quarantine for ten days if it's an enlightened stage, or euthanized
and tested if it's not.  Better to get the vaccine, and not have to worry
about it.
 
Melodyt and the elven eight
[Posted in FML issue 3799]