Today was vaccination day, much to my ferrets' dismay.  One of them, Lexie,
has had a reaction to her distemper shot every year I've had her - two
years, and this year was the third.  Each of the first two times, she was
treated by the vet, first in response to, and then in order to minimize the
reaction.  But each year, it *seems* to have gotten worse.  This year, he
pretreated her, and she had the worst reaction I've seen so far - totally
laid out on the table and non responsive.  The vet reacted quickly, and
she's fine now, though a bit draggy.
 
I know that distemper is typically fatal in ferrets, and I don't want to
expose my girl to risk.  What I want to know is - is it my imagination that
her reactions are getting worse, or is it possible that this is happening?
I am happy to go early and stay late at the vet's so he can monitor her,
and if I knew she had a given reaction each time that'd be fine.  But if it
gets worse each time, am I just rolling the dice?  Can she actually die,
even in the vet's office if the vet is prepared for a reaction?
 
I don't really want to start a whole discussion about whether or not to
vaccinate at all, since I know some people feel strongly either way - I
just want to know if anyone has gone through something like this, and what
people think.
 
Thanks!
Megan and the Innoculated Trio:
Anastasia ("Ow!  Where's my raisin?")
Lexie ("What did I do to deserve this?")
Sammi ("Where are we?  Ow!  What's that shiny thing?")
[Posted in FML issue 2977]