Rabies can NOT be brought in on shoes. Canine distemper can.

Rabies needs to be delivered to the blood or to mucus membranes (not
regular skin) so it can be can be transmitted by being bitten or by
getting the virus into a wound. It can also be gotten by getting the
virus onto mucus membranes, for example, by getting infected saliva
into the eyes. Some species can get it from eating the neurological
tissue of infected animals. Not all can. In an old study of multiple
animal types ferrets could ***not*** get it this way. I think that dogs
could in that study but cats could not, but you would have to check me
on that.

This site will give you a range of information to get you started:
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/

You may also enjoy the compendia in the documents section of:
http://www.nasphv.org/

Rabies virus is very bad at living outside the body so you will not
transmit it on your shoes.

Canine distemper, on the other hand, can be delivered on shoes but it
is not terribly long lived outside the body, though that varies a
decent amount depending on humidity and temperature, so when there are
unvaccinated animals in a home it is generally advised to leave shoes
outside.

The chances are likely that the kit had a first on at the breeder's
and that this is the second one.

Your description sounds like a strong response rather than a reaction.
Lethargy is normal after vaccines. That is from the immune system
kicking in and learning the vaccine. You have probably noticed that you
or other humans also at times act a bit tired after vaccines for the
same reason. The amount of lethargy can be dependent on how much the
immune system kicks in, so let the vet know, and ALWAYS spend about
45 minutes at the vet hospital after a vaccine so that immediate care
can be gotten if needed. Also, never get the rabies vaccine and canine
distemper vaccine at the same time. Most individuals who react to one
type of vaccine do not react to others, though a very few appear to be
allergic to some shared compound.

Why will you tell your vet about the lethargy and have the vet closely
question you about the details? Allergies start when a portion of the
immune system incorrectly identifies a substance as an invader during
an exposure, but that usually is NOT when the reaction happens. The
reaction typically happens with the NEXT exposure.

Here is text from a past post of mine which you may find useful (saving
myself time):
>Just a quick lesson on allergic reactions:
>
>Although some things are more likely to cause reactions then others
>there is a set pattern of events.
>
>First there is an exposure. This may be the first exposure but more
>often it is a later exposure. The more exposures, the greater the
>chance of a reaction, which is why true food allergies are more likely
>to happen with foods that are eaten often like favorite foods, or like
>rice in southern Asia but wheat in northern Asia (except for some
>reactions which are simply more common such as crustaceans). It is
>also why researchers are trying to find out how much less often CDV
>vaccines can be given. (How YOU CAN HELP:
> http://www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html )
>
>Sometimes the initial exposure is to something else which SHARES A
>COMMON INGREDIENT which is why a number of people who react to bananas
>also react to latex, a number of people who react to lobster will
>react not only to crab and shrimp but to iodine, and a number of
>people who react to potatoes will react to tomato and eggplant which
>are among the solanaceous relatives. It is also why some ferrets react
>to more than one type of vaccination, though luckily most of those who
>react do not do so.
>
>THE INITIAL EXPOSURE PRIMES THE BODY FOR NEXT TIME, but a reaction
>does not happen with that priming exposure.
>
>Normally, the vaccine will teach the correct portions of the immune
>system to respond to the disease and kill it off before it can get a
>foothold. Teaching that lesson can cause some of the normal immune
>system responses to illness and hence some illness symptoms but those
>are not a reaction; they are an expected response.
>
>When the wrong portion of the immune system learns that lesson the
>body instead acts like it is under major attack ON THE NEXT EXPOSURE
>to that item. So, if one year you don't react to ragweed but at the
>beginning of the next ragweed season you do then your body learned the
>lesson wrong the previous year. If you didn't react to a yellow jacket
>sting you had five years ago, but last week when you got stung again
>for the first time in 5 years your throat rapidly swelled then the
>priming exposure was 5 years ago and this time was the reaction.
>
>It is not uncommon for people to confuse the normal response of the
>immune system learning the lesson correctly with a reaction, but they
>are completely different.
>
>There are multiple types of allergic reactions from Stevens-Johnson,
>to anaphylaxis (which is what we discuss in life-threatening
>reactions), to allergic rhinitis (runny nose), to asthma, etc. and
>they vary widely in severity.
>
>BTW, the bloody flux that happens with anaphylaxis can sometimes occur
>is because the blood cells are just washed across the membranes
>because the fluid loss is so very rapid. (If there is bloody flux
>with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome then the cause is necrosis of the mucus
>membranes in the intestines. S-J also causes dermal necrosis. I have
>not heard of that syndrome in ferrets, though it could theoretically
>happen, and it is incredibly rare.)

The proportion of ferrets who react is low, but it makes sure that the
vet knows what to do when an allergic reaction occurs, to always remain
at the vet's after a vaccine for a while, to give only one vaccine at a
time, etc.

from another of my past posts (Badly need to save time today so using
this shortcut...)

>We do NOT vaccinate UNhealthy ones, we do titers before considering
>whether to do a canine distemper shot, and if a ferret has had what
>definitely was an allergic reaction to a vaccine we do not give that
>vaccine to the ferret again.
>
>Why do we vaccinate healthy animals?
>
>For canine distemper we do so because it is such a absolutely
>horrible, horrible way for a ferret to die and it can be tracked in
>on shoes.
>
>For rabies we know that the chances of our ferrets getting it are
>slim and that there so far has never been a case world-wide of anyone
>contracting rabies from a ferret BUT we also know that if a ferret has
>not been vaccinated and someone who has been bitten or even claims to
>have been bitten insists on the animal being destroyed and tested that
>it too often will happen. After the effectiveness testing for IMRAB 3
>was done but before the CDC testing on how rabies behaves in ferrets
>was done there actually were situations in which people's exes claimed
>to have been bitten and had ferrets destroyed. The chances of our
>ferret encountering that is small but it is at least as large as the
>chance of reacting to the rabies vaccine.

You also may want to look up relevant abstracts in
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
but skip all of the ones that are not closely related, like the ferret-
badger ones.

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 6797]