To Jeff Johnston, Pam Grant, Howard Davis:
I'm interested in knowing if there is a higher incidence of Fervac reactions
in Marshall Farm ferrets.  According to Judi Bell, MF uses Distamink as the
first vaccine for their kits - she also mentions that Distamink and Fervac
were essentially the same vaccine until the diluent was changed in the
Fervac.  She thinks they should have left it alone.
 
Could the Distamink be causing subsequent reactions?  I only have 1 MF
ferret now, I have 2 Path Valley ferrets, and the remainder are all private
breeder ferrets.  None of the private breeder ferrets were ever vaccinated
with Distamink - Fromm-D was used - they have all been vaccinated with
FerVac and none have had reactions.
 
OTOH, Mandy and Angel, who died early in 96, as well as Elliott, the last of
my MF ferrets, had been vaccinated once with Fervac and did not have a
reaction.  Apparently reactions become more prominent with subsequent vax.
Elliott is due for his vax and that may be a test for me.
 
I currently have 15 ferrets; 13 of them have been vaccinated with Fervac
with no reactions, but only 2 of them have had 2nd, 3rd, and then yearly
boosters with Fervac - again though with no reactions.
 
Pam Grant - do you know what brand Path Valley uses for their initial vax?
 
Judi suggested I get a bottle of Distamink for my present litter - she said
it's about $8 for a 100 cc bottle, which is significantly cheaper than $2.00
a dose of Fervac.  But if the Distamink may be the
llllllllllllllllll(whoops) cause of the reactions, I'd rather use Fervac.
 
TO Jeff:
You may have misunderstood my post abut UK and Aussie ferrets - I was
commenting on the incidence of adrenal disease - not size - which Judi feels
may be related to unnatural light exposure/cycles.
 
Pam and Howard - has your survey indicated a higher incidence of reactions
to Fervac in MF ferrets vs other ferrets?
 
Debbie Riccio
WNYFLFA
Rochester, NY
[Posted in FML issue 1565]