I'm going to leave the power arguments to others (I saw a very good post by
a DVM whose name I forget at the moment; sorry!), but I just had to put in
my $0.02 on this.
 
IMHO, please DO vaccinate your fuzzies.  You may not see high incidences of
diseases, such as distemper, in dogs in your area but that is most likely
because nearly all dogs are vaccinated against this terrible disease.  My
sister is a veterinarian, and rest assured she's told me some terrible
stories about animals dying or put down with distemper.
 
The rationale that "there's no disease in my area since everyone else is
vaccinated, so why should I bother?" is called taking advantage of "herd
immunity." It is, of course, your own decision as to whether or not to take
that incredibly risky approach, but is it worth the life of your fuzzy to
take that chance?
 
This argument is not unique to ferret-owners; I'm sure some of you have
also heard similar discussions over immunization for pertussis in human
infants, for example.
 
Just my thoughts; flames to /dev/bin/null.
 
- Megan
--
Megan O'Shaughnessy DC ( [log in to unmask] )
URL: http://www.teleport.com/~megan/
[Posted in FML issue 2426]