Amy writes:
>You do not know what damage has been done.  Damage can be done
>without signs of a reaction.  Setting off a chain so to speak.
>Let's stop overlooking that point.
 
It is certainly true that specifically in ferrets this is not known, and
that can't be forgotten.  That does not mean that a hypothesis is either
valid OR false, though.  This aspect IS well studied in humans and a
number of other animals, though.  At times there can be serious enough
blood pressure drops to cause lasting neurological problems (something
I have mentioned in posts on and off, which is rare among the rare) and
this has been seen in some ferrets.  The hypothesis of heart damage never
panned out.  Remember that in our family and in the immediate families of
my husband and I we have among us 5 people (including both of us) with
histories of anaphylactic reactions.  (In fact, I had something like 6
last year myself requiring epi.)  We have pursued the hypothesis that
such reaction might cause heart damage and from all asked (including
research allergists and research cardiologists) we were told that there
is no evidence to support the concept.  Heart disease levels have not
turned out to be increased in folks like us.  (In fact, the ones with
heart disease earlier than the late 70s in Steve's family are the ones
who have not had such reactions, and heart disease is extremely rare in
both sides of my family.
 
I am not inclined to act like the reactions should not be taken
seriously, which is why I tend to emphasize precautions, vets knowing
how to treat such reactions, and IMMEDIATE vet care (not 5 or 10 minutes
later vet care) when an anaphylactic reaction happens.  Still, it does
not make sense to also worry about what has no evidence of being even a
consideration as a problem.
 
It is also always possible that failure of contamination controls, or
some unexpected result involving susceptibility to an ingredient can
occur with any med (as I said just 2 days ago), as well as that there
may at times seem to be such a situation (good or bad) which may not pan
out on study.  Heck, that even can happen with everyday things, not just
meds.  Some things just involve living and learning (hopefully from real
studies), and not jumping to conclusions while still using precautions.
Hey, life is complicated...
 
I realize that the work in other animals for reducing the number of
vaccinations looks extremely promising, but without enough data to know
what does NOT protect ferrets I'd rather be careful personally because I
HAVE seen Canine Distemper (in a dog decades ago) and I can't emphasize
enough how bad that was.
 
Canine Distemper, or Rabies -- either one -- is still worse than vaccine
reactions.  Vaccine reactions are rare and only rarely kill with
treatment; they happen fast and the ferrets are almost always passed out
during the bad ones.  The diseases kill slowly with torturous pain, with
brain damage, and they are consistently fatal virtually always (very rare
exceptions exist like the badly damaged ferrets who had been vaccinated
in previous years who I mentioned 2 days ago) once these disease have
been contracted.  So, people need to consider BOTH sides (and I doubt
that I've ever in any series of posts in discussion of vaccines failed
in at least one of my posts to mention vaccine reactions and that they
are life threatening without proper care, and that there are some ferrets
who should not be vaccinated).
 
This means that people need to know how serious the diseases are as
well, how easily Canine Distemper can be contracted, and that unproven
hypotheses can be left out because they aren't really a service to
anyone.  Then people will MAKE UP THEIR OWN MINDS FOR THEMSELVES, which
is the way it should be.
 
I am sorry that your ferret did not do well after surgery and I don't
know the particulars, but have you considered that perhaps something
other than the vaccine was involved, esp. since the treating vet
apparently felt that it wasn't the vaccine?  As I've said before,
including 2 days ago, I do NOT have our vaccinated when they have
certain health problems; that includes being recently post-op in our
household.  When a ferret isn't well we wait.
[Posted in FML issue 4639]