Hello everyone,
My name is Kalaine and last week I posted a note asking for advice for my
ferret Jezzy.  She was making a wheezing noise, and I wasn't sure if it was
asthma, or a hairball, or whatever... I first want to thank everyone who
responded to me.  I took every suggestion to my vet.
 
Well, I finally got to the vet on Sat. and of course Jezzy wouldn't make
the noise in the vets office.  The vet checked her mouth, tummy, and
listened to her chest, and said Jezzy looked fine.  Then she took her temp.
Jezzy had a fever.  I couldn't believe it.  Her nose felt cold and wet.  I
told her Taz had started making the noise this morning too.  She said they
probably had a cold or virus.  They are on amoxy drops twice a day for 10
days.
 
I took in some of the posts on Feravac reactions and let my vet read them.
I told her both Jezzy and Taz are due their shots soon.  I asked her if
there was any other alternative to the Feravac.  She said not really.  I
asked her about pre medicating.  She said w/ the type of reaction the
ferrets are having to the shot(anaphalactic hope I spelled it right) pre
medicating won't help.
 
She told me these were my choices.  She said our area was very good w/
having animals get their shots.  She said there weren't any cases of
distemper in our area for a long while.  If I stop taking Jezzy and Taz
outside I won't have to get the shot.  But, if they do get distemper they
will die.  There is no cure.  She feels the best bet is to give the shot,
and wait in the office a full 30 minutes to be safe.  They will have the
medicine sitting by just in case.
 
I asked her if distemper can be carried into the home.  She said yes.  If I
go to a pet store and some animal has it, or walking in another area (we go
to NY a lot) we can pick it up and bring it into the house.
 
I have until June to make up my mind.  My vet told me to keep collecting
the info on the bad reactions so she can do some research.  She said she
was going to call the makers of the drug to see what is going on.  So I
was wondering if everyone who has a reaction could post it, and just your
general location like NJ or NY or wherever you are.  Maybe we can track
down if there is a bad batch, and where it was sent.  Also, could you write
if this was the animals first time getting the shot or not.  Note how many
feravac vaccinations they have had.  I really want to get to the bottom of
this.
 
The vet did tell me that ferrets are very sensitive animals.  She said
that what we could be seeing is normal.  She said so many animals out of
thousands have serious reactions to shots.  I don't think so.  To me, it
seems that this is all of a sudden.  Jezzy and Taz are two.  The first time
they got the shots no problem.  Last year Jezzy had a small reaction.  Just
throwing up.  The vet said the premedicating could help w/ small reactions
like that, but not full blown out ones.
 
Again, thanks for everyones help and advice.
 
Kalaine, Jezzy-belle, and Taz-arina
[Posted in FML issue 3010]