Hello,
 
I have a male ferret, age 3.2 years, good health.  He's had some problems
with vaccines.  The first time I took him in the vet gave him Imrab 3 and
Fervac-D in the back of the neck, one right after the other.  He
developed a lump on his neck, so I took him back and the vet gave him a
Flucort injection near the lump.  It eventually disappeared.  The second
year the vaccines were spaced weeks apart and each was given along with a
Flucort injection.  He had no problems that time.  The third time (which
was last January) he was again given Imrab 3 and Flucort.  Not too long
afterwards he started throwing up some blood and was rushed back to the
vet for treatment.  He recovered from that episode pretty quickly,
although he still has a bit of a lump in the back of the neck.
 
After the bad reaction, my vet's advice was to permanently stop both the
rabbies and distemper vaccinations, stop taking him outside for walks,
and stop exposing him to friends' dogs & ferrets.  We did discuss options
such as trying a distemper vaccination, possibly with a smaller dose of
Fervac-D and pretreating with Benadryl.  It was my call, and long story
short, I didn't pursue it.
 
With his annual exam coming up, I've found myself rethinking that
decision.  The potential for me to track canine distemper into the house
still weighs on me, and I know he has really missed going for walks and
getting together with some of my friends' ferrets.  I recently learned of
FML, and thought I'd share this story in the hopes that more experienced
ferret owners might offer some advice.  Given that it has been nearly two
years since his last distemper, I'm not sure whether resuming that is
even an option.  But I'm guessing that some of you would, and could tell
me what you'd do if you were stuck in my shoes right now.
 
Thanks.
[Posted in FML issue 4713]