>Regarding the distemper outbreak in Washington...
>I'm curious, why would you bring a ferret into the shelter knowing
>that it had been exposed to distemper and jeopardize the health of
>the other ferrets? Aren't the shelter ferrets vaccinated for distemper
>and rabies? Just curious.
>Dan

Dan,
As I've posted, the ferret was dropped off by a former volunteer when
none of us were there, without notice to us, and with no description of
the situation. He was placed in the middle of a full bank of cages. By
the time we were aware of the situation, many ferrets had been exposed.
Even when we talked to Animal Control, they didn't have a diagnosis,
they just euthanized a sick ferret. Initial symptoms look much like
flu, which is also going around, although we did quarantine when we
knew that Gumby was sick.

We do vaccinate. Ferrets have died that were vaccinated within the past
3 months. That is just one of the maddening mysteries here that we are
trying to unravel with the help of our vets.

It could be that the ferrets coming in were stressed and their immune
systems compromised when they were vaccinated. That will prevent the
vaccine from having full effects. Perhaps it was handled improperly
somewhere along the way. We're actively digging to find out what
happened and keep it from ever happening again.

Kevin

[Posted in FML 7052]