Hi -
This is my first posting after several months of lurking and I have a
number of questions.  Here goes:
 
1. It's almost spring and time for vaccines.  Two of my then four, now
six, went into anaphalactic shock last year.  [The vet blamed the distemper
vacciner, Ferrac-D, although both were given at the same time].  Does
anyone have experience/recommendations on revaccinating animals with severe
reactions?  My inclination is to forget the shots for those two, but I do
have a dog, and who knows what she may bring in.  Plus there are raccoons
in the area, will I never be able to take these two outside again?  Can
anyone tell me the brand name of the approved rabies vaccine?
 
2. On a related note, several weeks ago, someone mentioned that ferrets
who had had severe reactions sometimes never recovered their full energy
level.  Why is this?  Ballad, a 3.5 year-old male, experienced a severe
drop in energy from which he is only now recovering.  Sonnet, a 2.5
year-old female, recovered her energy, but has always seemed a bit sicklier
than the rest.  We talked to our vet about this, but he didn't seem
concerned.  Oddly, Sonnet was the one on death's door, Ballad was just on
the driveway.
 
3. I often see requests in other posts of, "No flames please." Surely we
can do better than that.  We're mostly adults here, right?
 
4. You asked for a happy story.  In the summer of 1997, my husband and I
were living in an 8th floor apartment with our four ferrets (and a bunny).
I had a friend visiting and had to return her to the train station.  We
left about noon and I returned about 1.  The ferrets were free in the
apartment all day.  At around 5 that evening, we got a call from the only
other couple we knew in the entire complex.  It turns out, their brother
had come to visit them and a ferret had followed him in and onto the
elevator.  Could he possibly belong to us?  Nope, we said, ours are all
here, still, we'll come down and check it out.  Well, it was our boy Lug.
The only time he could have gotten out was when I went out that afternoon.
He must have had help out or went down eight flights of stairs.  He spent a
lovely afternoon playing on the playground with the children, then tired
and content, he came back in, got on the elevator just like after our
walks.  If only he could train those stupid people to push the proper
buttons!  We always watched the door, but are especially vigilant now.
 
[Note: this is what he wants us to think anyway, what true FLO mission he
was on, we'll never know.  If only he could reach those darn buttons he'd
never have been caught!]
 
Hope everyone has a good day -
 
Wendy and Craig
Sonnet (say no to the vaccine!)
Haiku (Do I still have to get one?)
Lug (I was on raisin reconissance.)
Ballad (But I like going out...)
Jazz (Dook-dook-dook)
Paddington (I'm OK with you giving Sonnet another vaccine.  Maybe then
she'll leave me alone!)
Keppler and Tobbler (we're rabbits, leave us alone)
Snidley (the rat - drop more ferret food in here)
Ember (Can I still be an honorary ferret even if I chase my own tail?)
[Posted in FML issue 2627]