I only want to state this, I don't want to be bombared with emails of
people trying to convince me to change to another vaccine.
 
I have owned ferrets all my life, from small child and up.  We have tried
all the vaccines, yes ALL OF THEM.  And in my own household, here's what
I found, when Fervac hit the market, they were trying to get shelters to
do testing with them.  Well that was horrible when we lost about 25% (6
ferrets died and 3 had reactions) of the ferrets vaccined with Fervac (of
which we reported to Fervac, along with several other shelters, but since
we were not a vet or filled out an official form, it was not logged by
United).  Now, we chaulked it up to a bad batch, the next set, we lost 4
ferrets (1 had a reaction).  After that, we refused to use Fervac D.  I
don't care how much they may have improved, when you loose so many and
almost loose others, something isn't right.
 
Now being that we pre-dated a lot of ferret owners and back when we first
got ferrets in the 1980s, we used Fromm D which later was reproduced as
Galaxy D.  To date, we have not had ANY fatal reactions to this vaccine.
We had one minor reactions of which the ferret reacted to rabies shots
as well.
 
Now a couple years ago, we used Purevax, our vet with whom he had to
vaccine, gave 12 shots, we lost two ferrets.  No warning, within 15
minutes they reacted, the vet tried to save them and could not.  So next
batch (of course because we were showing AFA, we had to do Purevac since
Fervac in my book was not a choice), we pre-treated them and I had out
of 16, 1 fatality and two severe reactions, of which one is normal, the
other is not quite right.
 
Look I am not blaming AFA for wanting only certain shots and it's their
choice, but it's mine not to attend because of their requirement.  NO
more commen tneed to be made about that.  I am simply explaining why I
tried Purevax.
 
If you ask me, I am glad that Fervac is going off the market.  The
vaccine being that it originated from Distamink was not adequate for
ferrets (I think was why the reaction rate was the highest).  The reason
I know is that in Maryland when there was a bad outbreak (in the 1990s),
my ferrets were unknowingly exposed to distemper among many other
ferrets who were also exposed.  I was using Galaxy D, in fact, on later
findings, the original ferrets who contracted it, were right next to
my ferrets and the woman who owned them was sticking her fingers in my
ferrets cages.  I didn't take note of the woman or her ferrets right away
but after looking at her ferrets and they were not well and her finger
problems, we moved to another table.  But anyhow, my ferrets did not
get sick nor did they contract the distemper.  Now another gal, who
vaccinated with Fervac D, lost 75% of her household to canine distemper.
I don't know if you call that luck but Galaxy D must have done sometime
otherwise I should have lost my ferrets.  Now here's the other thing
becuase some people tried to explain it away by saying that they must
have just been given the shot a couple months prior and that's why it's
effective but my guys had been given shots 2, 3 , 7, 9, 10, 11, months
prior.
 
I don't know when the other ferrets were vaccinated with Fervac that died
of distemper or what their situation but it wasn't just her, there were
others who lost ferrets, all that I know of were vaccinated with Fervac D.
At the time Fervac was basically being given away to shelters and since
most using it were shelters, it made sense.  I did not hear of anyone
else who used Galaxy D, loosing ferrets after that weekend of distemper.
I am not saying that there might have been some because distemper is one
nasty bugger, but I didn't loose any and I was right next to this woman,
my guys were exposed and on a greater level then most who lost ferrets.
 
So does it work, in my book, there is no other choice.  I am going to use
what I have known to work or at least protect my guys against distemper.
As my grandpa would say, why mess with a good thing.  Anyone who wants to
use Fervac, Purevax or Galaxy D, it should be your choice and what you
feel comfortable with.
 
I said my peace and I just wanted those to know who said it isn't proven,
to me it is.  Otherwise mine should have died and I have spoken to
several people who also say that same.  People can fight all they want,
but to me, sometimes personal experience is better than anything else.
 
[PD]
[Posted in FML issue 5115]