There are three options for canine distemper vaccines for ferrets.
 
Merial makes Purevax but production is intermittent.  Purevax has the
lowest rate of allergic reactions.
 
United made Fervac which seems to have the worst rate of allergic
reactions.  United is looking for a buyer but is selling off some bits
and pieces already, for instance its CEP test for ADV has been sold.
They stopped Fervac.
 
Fervac and Purevax are the only canine distemper vaccines that have the
right testing to know that they actually prevent canine distemper for a
year or more.
 
Galaxy has a small study in which it prevented distemper for a short
period in a small subset of ferrets.  It has not had the testing needed
to know for sure that it is effective for longer periods of time.  There
are anecdotes of effectiveness, but as a saying a dear friend passed on
to me goes "The plural of anecdote is not data." Besides, it is already
known (actual careful studies) that if canine distemper is introduced to
a colony of ferrets where 75% or more of the ferrets have had a canine
distemper vaccine which is effective during the time then the rate of
spread of canine distemper will be low to non-existant, so the
experiences from shelters where everyone is vaccinated or required to
provide proof of vaccination when left there do not necessarily mean
that Galaxy is effect beyond the short term.
 
Now, that said, the last time we got our canine distemper vax they were
Galaxy, but we don't take our ferrets to shows.  I suspect that it works
for long enough, but suspecting and knowing for sure are two entirely
different things, and it is always important with suspicions and
hypotheses to keep that in mind.  based on the same sort of guesswork we
personally as providing CDV vaccines to our own ferrets every 18 months
to decrease exposures, but are of course, providing rabies vaccinations
annually.  We do NOT know if or how risky that personal choice is and
neither does anyone else because the needed data do not exist, so I am
*NOT* advising this, just saying what we are trying.
 
A sort-of fourth option is using one of the canine multiple vaccine that
has not been developed in ferret tissue cultures and which is a killed
vaccine, but that can be tricky with some.  Way back when all that we
had were avianized (grown in eggs) canine vaccines.  The downside of
those was that the reaction rate was higher, but that technique produced
vaccines which actually protected ferrets for a life time.  Almost no
vaccines are grown in eggs any longer; influenza vaccines are an
exception.  (Unlike current vaccines there actually were long term
studies done mostly because that info was desired for dogs with the
ferret being the research animal of choice at the time.) It is known from
past outbreaks that exposures to canine distemper among ferrets who have
not had a current canine distemper vaccine in over 2 or 3 years does
result in distemper infections, with the unvaccinated dying but the
previously vaccinated (those years ago) surviving with marked neural
damage and decreased quality and quantity of life.
 
It would be wonderful to have Galaxy tested for effectiveness for a
long enough time span, and it would be wonderful to have any ferret
vaccinations tested to see just how long they are effective.
 
List members can learn more about canine distemper vaccines by reading
in the FML Archives (The addy is in the header of every day's FML.) and
the FHL Archives (The addy is in my signature below.).
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
Ferret Health List co-moderator
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives fan
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
replacing
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
International Ferret Congress advisor
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5157]