>I'm not a vet but my understanding is that legally speaking, vets have
>no choice, at least when it comes to rabies vaccinations in places where
>those are required by law.  The reason for legal requirements to have
>rabies vaccinations once per year for ferrets is that the studies done
>on the effectiveness on the vaccine in ferrets were done using one year
>as the trial time span.
 
I learned something very interesting in vet tech school regarding the
vaccine issue, at least applied to dogs and cats, though I'm sure it's
the same with the ferrets.
 
Simply put, the studies done on vaccines are done for only a year for
very money driven reasons.  Less $$ has to be put out for a one year
experiment, and more $$ is made if you just make the trial 1 year and
make owners think that vaccines are only effect for a year.  They're only
effective for a year because that's the length of the research.  I have
heard that it's more commonplace now for cats and dogs to have vaccines
every 3 years.  I am no longer a vet tech so I cant personally speak for
that, and I dont know what the current thinking on ferrets is now either.
 
Becky and Heather and the Magnificent Seven
See the Mag 7 at www.geocities.com/abbyshammock7
[Posted in FML issue 4100]