They are different diseases. Ferrets get canine distemper (See below
for an associated caution, though).

Yes, CDV can be carried in on shoes or other clothing BUT it has a
limited life span outside the body, depending on weather conditions
because the virus has a fatty envelope. So, in conditions that are very
dry and very hot much of the virus may be destroyed in as little as a
half hour (though it could be longer) BUT if the conditions are humid
or are cooler then it will survive longer, and if frozen it can last
for years.

The best protection against CDV (canine distemper virus) is to have
enough ferrets in the group who are sufficiently vaccinated. That means
FIRST having a sufficient foundation of all of the kit shots OR if done
later of having two (sometimes three) doses of vaccine given two or
three weeks apart, and then later having the first annual vaccine.

Having sufficient levels of Vitamin A in the diet also help protect
against CDV and greatly help fight it when exposures happen. See
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/137/8/1916.long

There is a lot more about distemper in the FML Archives and the two
archives of the FHL. All three URLs are in my sig lines.

While there are some scattered reports in which people have in the
past mentioned feline distemper in ferrets I can find no actual proof
that they really occurred (though caution with exposures might still
certainly make sense). There have, however, been cases of canine
distemper in the big cats (and a range of other non-canine animals
such as seals).

http://vet.sagepub.com/content/38/3/311.long

This is outdated for TYPES of vaccines but has a LOT of good other info
in it:

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1539420/pdf/canvetj00154-0009a.pdf>

BTW, Purevax was originally developed due to pressure to have a vaccine
that could safely protect endangered wild animals in zoos who can get
canine distemper (and it DOES successfully do that) but one of the
National Zoo pathologists, Dr. Dick Montali (and after all these
years I may be misspelling his name) realized that the effort had the
potential to also benefit ferrets. (Now, if only that product did not
have to share time on a production line which is used more often to
make some much more profitable equine vaccines...)

Old but also useful for some basic info:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2537273

Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
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)

A nation is as free as the least within it.

[Posted in FML 7829]