I have a question for Dr. Williams concerning distemper
vaccinations. You mentioned that vaccinating ferrets once a year
will have no adverse effects on them. I show my ferrets and some of
the shows require that ferrets entered in them to have been
vaccinated in the past nine months. I can understand this since the
ferrets are exposed to so many stressors at the shows but after
reading the comments from the homeopathic vet and your reply I
started to wonder if I may be vaccinating too often and what the
side effects could be. Basically, what I'm asking is, will it hurt
my ferrets if they're vaccinated more frequently than once a year.
 
Also on the subject of vaccinating, I run a ferret shelter. I
vaccinate all the ferrets as soon as they come in. The vast majority
have either never been vaccinated or haven't received any shots
since they were kits. I never know how long a ferret will be in my
home before I can place it and I feel it is best for the animal to
receive it's shots as soon as possible. When I do adopt out, I
encourage the new owner to take the ferret to the vet as soon as
possible since we have a return policy if the ferret turns out to
have something wrong with it or if it doesn't get along with other
ferrets or members of the household. Or if the new owners just
aren't happy with it. After all the point is to get the ferret into
a loving home.
 
Cindy
 
[Posted in FML issue 0735]