I was talking with Dr. Ruth Heller, and here are further reminders
from some of my own past posts for the people who are (or will be)
in regions with a lot of canine distemper this year:

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9598

in part:
>I keep posting this and somehow people keep missing it even though it
>must now be in as many as a half dozen places in each the archives of
>the FHL and the FML. I apologize for not thinking of mentioning it
>again, but have had quite a lot of serious family needs recently.
>
>> J Nutr. 2007 Aug;137(8):1916-22.
>>Disease manifestations of canine distemper virus infection in
>>ferrets are modulated by vitamin A status.
>>Rodeheffer C, von Messling V, Milot S, Lepine F, Manges AR, Ward BJ.
>>McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Faculty of
>>Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Montreal General Hospital,
>>Montreal, QC, Canada.
>>
>>The measles virus (MV) causes half a million childhood deaths
>>annually. Vitamin A supplements significantly reduce measles-
>>associated mortality and morbidity. The mechanisms whereby vitamin A
>>acts against MV are not understood and currently there is no
>>satisfactory small animal model for MV infection. We report on
>>the development of a ferret model to study antiviral activity of
>>vitamin A against canine distemper virus (CDV). CDV is closely
>>related to MV at the molecular level and distemper in ferrets mimics
>>measles in humans. We infected vitamin A-replete (control) and vitamin
>>A- depleted ferrets with CDV and assessed the ability of high-dose
>>vitamin A supplements to influence CDV disease. In control ferrets,
>>CDV infection caused fever, rash, conjunctivitis, cough, coryza,
>>and diarrhea. In contrast, control ferrets that were given 30 mg
>>of vitamin A did not develop typical distemper after infection and
>>exhibited only a mild rash. The supplement did not negatively affect
>>ferret health and resulted in a 100% increase in serum and liver
>>vitamin A concentrations. We also found that profound vitamin A
>>deficiency is inducible in ferrets and can be rapidly reversed upon
>>high-dose vitamin A supplementation. Vitamin A deficiency caused
>>anorexia, diarrhea, cataracts, behavioral abnormalities, and
>>ultimately death, with or without CDV infection. All ferrets that
>>received vitamin A supplements, however, recovered uneventfully
>>from CDV infection. These results replicate many aspects of the
>>observations of vitamin A therapy in humans with measles and suggest
>>that CDV infection in ferrets is an appropriate model for the study
>>of the antiviral mechanism of vitamin A.
>>
>> PMID: 17634264

>The full article is HERE:
>
>http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/137/8/1916
>
>PHOTOS:
>
> http://www.all-about-ferrets.com/canine-distemper-in-ferrets.html
>
> http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/170303.htm
>
> http://www.radil.missouri.edu/info/dora/ferrpage/hold/respir.html
>
> http://web.mac.com/exoticdvm/mammal_archives_2008/Archives.html
>
> http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/canine-distemper.html


http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL9659

>I have read the papers on distemper and vitamin A with great interest.
>But 30 mg of vitamin A is a large dose. Could it be possible that they
>meant 30 mcg? I wonder.
>
>I have communicated with Dr. Brian Ward who was one of the study
>authors and he sent this information for the FHL membership:
>
> START QUOTE
>
>Hello Sukie
>No typo or error ...
>When we launched this study, we had no idea what the kinetics of
>vitamin A deficiency and sufficiency were in ferrets and we decided
>to give a good large dose to replenish depleted stores. There was no
>toxicity associated with the 50,000IU daily dose x2 and this dose is
>not so different from the WHO recommended 100,000 IU daily for 3
>days for small kids (a good sized ferret weighs ~1-1.5 kg in my
>experience).
>
>Brian
>
> END QUOTE
>
>THE FULL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND for free here:
>
> http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/137/8/1916

Remember that unlike humans, most of whom ancestrally get
proportionally little Vitamin A -- varying by very long-standing
ancestral diet heritage, ferrets ancestrally got a lot A due to the
number of livers and other high A sources their predecessors would
have had. (Like dogs, though, they can not deal with as high levels of
Vitamin D as humans, so things like hypercalcemia become concerns if
they get too much D. Those of us who ancestrally are used to having a
lot of skin exposure to the sun -- like humans -- actually need to get
a lot of D and too low levels appear to reduce the ability to fight
off viruses, are bad for bones, may be hard on our hearts, and may be
a precursor in some for multiple sclerosis or for diabetes, and there
is more in PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20373291
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

On the other hand, ferrets are from creatures which ancestrally lived
in extremely dark burrows and had dawn and dusk as their primary hours
of high outside activity except when the weather or other factors
forced them out at other times so they are not made for dealing with
high amounts of D since sun exposure causes the body to create more of
that hormone. (Yes, D is actually a hormone.) BTW, that ancestral lack
of much light exposure also plays into adrenal disease discussions so
look it up in the FML and FHL archives. They are in my sig lines and
here are tips:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL11292
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL11293

Yes, think of humans and ferrets the opposite on Vitamins A and D. They
can deal with a lot more A (and maybe need more) but apparently can not
deal well with a lot of D. We can't deal with a lot of A but often are
too low in D for optimal health and we may even be set up for a number
of health problems by not getting enough D, so among other things get
your children outside actively playing (the exercise is also healthy
for their lifetimes) BUT don't have them take the ferrets out with
them. Instead if you have an outside play area for your ferrets that
is safe let them use it around dawn, around dusk, and at night most of
the times that it is used. It appears that higher levels of Vitamin A
do very well to help ferret NOT get canine distemper.

Re:
> http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/202209.asp
>
>Speak with your vets if your ferrets:
> 1. do not have canine distemper vaccine onboard within the year
> 2. have only pet store shots (which are not full series)
> OR
> 3. do not have high canine distemper titer numbers.
> For titer info: http://www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html
>
>There are times when the rate of canine distemper in wildlife
>increases and when that happens the chances of tracking it into your
>home also increase.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 6671]