Kim Hastings wrote:
>but to be safe, I vaccinate only during business hours, and there's an
>animal hospital just three blocks away)
 
EXCELLENT ADVICE, I always recommend this to people who give their own
vaccinations.  Best to be somewhat prepared just in case.  If a vet is
giving the vaccination, it's best to hang around the waiting room for an
hour afterward, but I am sure everyone knows this by now.
 
About Galaxy-D (before this debate gets started), it is not labelled for use
in ferrets so some vets won't use it, they prefer Fervac-D because it is
labelled/approved for ferrets (covering their you-know-whats).  However,
there have been numerous reactions to Fervac-D and so I refuse to take the
risk.  Galaxy-D is the *replacement* vaccine for Fromm-D which was what we
all used for ferrets for years, very safely.  Galaxy-D is supposed to be
somewhat different though, but it "is said" to offer adequate protection for
ferrets but the company that makes it will not specifically say this simply
because they haven't tested it "officially" on ferrets yet, and haven't
labelled it for them.  Shelters have used Galaxy-D for years with good
results.  *I* even had a bad scare back in January when I took in a sick
ferret to care for (his owners were incapable of the kind of intensive care
he needed), he was here for 6 days and, sadly, it turned out he had
Distemper!  (The vet screwed up his shots, he'd had an 8 week shot, then a 4
month shot and the vet said that was enough to protect him.  At 6 months he
got Distemper and died in my arms.) I am always careful when new kids come
in because you just never know what they could be carrying, but I never
thought of Distemper!  He was in the kitchen while he was here, all of the
other ferrets were in the livingroom (with no real wall/separation between
the two) and NOT A SINGLE ferret here ever showed any signs of problems!!
I'd say the Galaxy-D *does* offer protection.
 
Kisses to the fuzzies!
 
Trish
Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter
[Posted in FML issue 1939]