>Please help!  I am afraid to vaccinate my ferrets now.  Two of our ferrets
>ad reactions to their vaccines earlier this year and I don't know if it
>as the Imrab3 or FervacD.
 
Hi Kimberly
 
That could be a big problem -- they could have reacted because both were
given at the same time, or to one of the vaccines..now its a gamble, either
way.
 
>His office does not use FervacD, they use vaccines used by some Ford
>Dodge company or something like that, they do use Imrab3.  I said that we
>can only use FervacD and Imrab3 and the receptionist said that they
>vaccinate hundreds of ferrets successfully with this other stuff, and she
>asked where did I hear that these vaccines were best/recommended?
 
This is most likely Galaxy-D - not USDA licensed for use in ferrets, but
does have "off-label" use with ferrets.  Fervac-D is the only USDA approved
vaccine for ferrets.  Imrab-3 is the only rabies vaccine to be used with
ferrets.
 
>I didn't tell her the Internet because every vet I talk to says don't
>believe what you read on the Net.  This frustrates me to no end.  They
>don't understand that there is a mailing list that people post on
>including veterinarians, where we share information and experiences,
 
The vet doesn't have to believe us - they can contact the manufacturers of
the vaccines - United Vaccine for Fervac-D, Merial for Imrab-3 and Fort
Dodge (I think they were bought by someone else) for Galaxy-D.
 
>The receptionist called me back and said that Dr. Langford said that it is
>no longer necessary to vaccinate against Canine distemper once a ferret has
>received a couple of boosters.  I have not herad that anywhere.
 
That is scary that anyone is arbitrarily advocating not vaccinating against
distemper.  True, you can run a titer test (much more expensive than
vaccinating the ferret every year) to determine whether or not your ferret
has adequate coverage, but none of this is documented (that I know of) and
no studies on the length of effectiveness has ever been done.  Canine
distemper is fatal and it would make me uncomfortable to continue to see a
vet recommend not vaccinating.  What is a couple?  2, 5, over a year?  3
years?  When is it enough - and when is your ferret at risk?
 
If your ferrets reacted to both shots at the same time, I think I would try
Imrab -3 by itself and then follow up 2-3 weeks later with either Galaxy-D
or Fervac-D, with pretreatmet with benadryl (by the vet).  Personally, I
have not seen a reaction to Imrab-3, so I would suspect Fervac-D to be the
cause of the reaction.  My little shelter reaction ferret, Trella, is
getting her distemper shot this year of Galaxy-D - she reacts badly to
Fervac.I think both of these shots are equally as effective - the biggest
difference is that Fervac is USDA approved for use with ferrets, and Galaxy
is not.
 
Good luck.
 
Lisa, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
URL: http: www.kozykingdom.com/ferrethaven
Want to help The Ferret Haven By-the-Sea? Register at iGive.com
by cutting and pasting this link:
http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1236&MID=854
[Posted in FML issue 2775]