Someone has been posting anonymously far and wide an article which
uses an overheard conversation with un-named (but well known) doctors
to "prove" that our shelter did not vaccinate, and has apparently been
lying all this time.

The claims in the article are absolutely not true, unfounded, and we
can prove this. I'll get into that in a bit but first I want to address
the message itself.

Vondelle, our shelter director, Debbi, the vice president, and I, all
have been very public in discussing the distemper outbreak, in hopes
that as many people as possible can learn from it, and to make sure
that accurate information gets out there instead of garbled rumors.
By anonymously trashing my shelter's reputation in this way, the poster
is not only harming me, but is harming the ferret community as a whole,
and I will argue may in the end be not helping ferrets at all.

How can I make such a claim? Because in response to my posts, I've
gotten some very interesting email, as have Debbi and the director.
I've heard from several shelter operators that have said, "We had
distemper go through our shelter too, but you are the only person I've
ever told about it" because they were afraid of being publicly called
out and having their name dragged through the mud. Kind of like what's
happening here. How many of those shelters, or others like them, will
read this and decide to come forward themselves?

On the other hand, I got direct responses from many people from all
over the world which have been enormously supportive, and which have
done more than you know to get us through this ordeal emotionally as
well as with direct support. We also were referred to Dr. Alan Ward,
who is working on an experimental protocol using low doses of
interferon to fight distemper, and Dr. Brian J. Ward et al who
developed a high dose Vitamin A protocol. THIS WORKED FOR MANY OF THE
FERRETS. If we not posted publicly, we wouldn't have found out about
it, and those ferrets would be dead.

How many other shelters will pull their heads in and miss out on that
support with disastrous results, because of anonymous whisper campaigns
like this one?

Now: On to the specifics:

First, "a well-known and well liked vet who specializes in ferrets"
was never directly involved in this situation at all, and so was not
a source of information.

Secondly, we sent ferrets for necropsy to "a well-known pathologist"
with comments clearly stating that the ferrets had been vaccinated, in
this case in October. They were sent to that pathologist because he
originally identified the mycoplasma infections which many ferrets
from a particular breeder have. Our theory was never that they were
suffering from mycoplasma, and this was what had caused the disease,
but rather that possibly the mycoplasma had compromised their immune
systems, rendering the vaccinations which we had done, less effective
than they should have been.

We didn't hear back directly from the pathologist for several weeks
that the ferret definitively had distemper. We got the final report on
April 30th, a full week after another lab had confirmed distemper based
on samples sent after the bodies were sent off to the pathologist. The
only communications we got from the University of Michigan lab were a
preliminary report with a gross description of the appearance of the
ferrets, and an indication of what tests would be performed, and a
final report on April 30 confirming CDV and ruling out Mycoplasma.

The core of the story is absolutely untrue. Most ferrets were
vaccinated, properly, and well before distemper entered our shelter.
I have records to prove it, and anyone with questions could have
contacted me directly at any time to discuss it, and I'd be glad to
share information with them. Specifically, for each ferret, I have the
label from the dose of vaccine used, attached to the ferret's records
and dated as we always do, so that we can track specific lots in case
something comes up.

Some numbers:

Of the 72 ferrets in the shelter at the time:
27 died of distemper


Of the 27:

3 had not been vaccinated due to frail health/other illnesses.

8 arrived about the same time as the ferret carrying distemper, and so
were not vaccinated in advance.

16 ferrets had documented current boosters, and still contracted
distemper.


ONE MORE TIME:
FERRETS THAT GOT SICK AND DIED WERE IN FACT CURRENT ON VACCINATIONS.

What we also have documentation of is an instance of a cage of 4
ferrets: One had a documented history of a full series as a kit,
and current booster. The other three had current booster, but no
documentation of a kit series. The ferret with the kit series never
got sick, but his three cage-mates died of distemper.

The conclusion I draw from this and from many other correlations, is
that it is CRITICAL to ensure that every ferret has a complete series.
If you're unsure, then give two vaccinations around 30 days apart.

It should be noted that "the ferrets vet" was at the time under extreme
stress due to many personal factors, so I can well believe that her
response could have confused the pathologist. Again, having gotten a
less than clear response, I am very surprised the he didn't contact
the shelter directly to determine the facts.

One other tidbit:

>Both the vet and the pathologist stressed that they did not know
>what "the shelter operator" did or did not know about the vaccination
>situation, since their conversations were just with 'the ferret's
>vet'.

Now, first, WHY would responsible professionals pass on hearsay without
even contacting the shelter operator to find out the real facts?

Secondly, we, like many if not most shelters out there, do our own
distemper vaccinations. Our vets (and we have two separate vets who
help us with our ferrets, not just one, but then the poster and the two
"sources" apparently didn't know that) were not directly involved in
the vaccination process, so they would have less direct knowledge than
the people who actually did the vaccinations, which would be myself and
Debbi Walcker, the vice-president of the shelter.

Anyone interested in the complete truth about the outbreak has only
to ask. Our shelter has no secrets and nothing to hide. We have been
preparing a report on the outbreak with the goal of helping other
shelters in the future.

Kevin Farlee, President
Washington Ferret Rescue & Shelter

[Posted in FML 7098]