Recently there was some discussion about vaccine reaction precautions.  People
seem to be assuming that a reaction would only take place very soon after the
injection.  Our experience last year taught us that there is another
possibility: Ben + Jerry had delayed reactions to Fervac.  Jerry's reaction
began about 3 hours after the vaccination; Ben's occurred about  6 hours after
the shot.  We spent half the night at an emergency veterinary clinic.
According to our vet, delayed reactions like this are unusual.  But I would
suggest a few additional precautions besides waiting in the doctor's office
1/2 hour after the vaccinations:
 
1) Get the vaccinations done on a day when someone can stay home and keep an
 eye on the ferrets.
2) Find out in advance where you can take your ferrets in case of an emergency.
 Some emergency clinics may not provide expert ferret care or may not be
 tolerant of a bite (even reporting a bite to a ferret-unfriendly health
 department).  Have the clinic's phone number and address handy (I remember
 frantically leafing through Baltimore Ferret Club newsletters in search of a
 phone number).
3) If one ferret needs to be taken in for treatment of a vaccine reaction, pack
 up all your ferrets that have been vaccinated instead of leaving the them home
 alone.  Ben's reaction occurred while Jerry was being treated at the clinic.
 Thank God we had brought her along!
 
Another subject --- someone mentioned a baby ferret with a prolapsed rectum.
Our ferret Buttercup had this problem when we first got her.  We took her to a
veterinarian who said this problem occurs when a kit's diet is changed too
abruptly.  He advised us to buy chicken or beef baby food (for humans), mix it
with dry kitten food and puree the mixture in a blender (we also added water).
He gave us an antibiotic-with-cortisone ointment to put on her rear.  With this
treatment, her problem cleared up quickly, and she began to grow rapidly.  We
think Buttercup had been weaned too quickly.
        Clare Sebok
[Posted in FML issue 1105]