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Hi everybody,
 
A lot of the post have mentioned separating the vaccines by 1-2 weeks "to
prevent" reactions.  Unfortunately that will not prevent reactions!  It
will just tell you which vaccine they are reacting too.  Plus in a
semi-recent article from the U of Georgia, both the rabies vaccine and
the (Fervac-d) distemper had roughly the same reaction rate if giving
together.  or when they are giving by themself.  The new Merial Purevax
distemper vaccine has a lower reaction rate and a much lower rate of the
severe reactions.  I have not seen a severe reaction since changing to
the Merial Purevax-distemper vaccine!!
 
As far as pretreating to prevent a vaccine reaction, the owner can give
liquid beneadryl roughly 30 minutes prior to the vaccine.  However if
the ferret has had a vaccine reaction previously then check to see which
distemper vaccine was used.  Obviously change to the Merial Purevax
distemper if either Fervac-d or Galaxy-d was used previously.  If it
was just a mild reaction then merely changing to Purevax may solve the
problem, but it would be a good thing to give Benadryl to be safe.
However if it was a moderate to severe reaction then I use cortisone
prior to the vaccine to prevent a reaction.  No, the cortisone will not
prevent a immune response to the vaccine, but it does prevent the vaccine
allergic reaction.  Remember dogs, cats, and even humans have vaccine
reactions.  Unfortunately ferrets do have a higher rate of vaccine
reactions (roughly 5% in the U of Georgia article).
 
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 4444]