My ferret Ramone & 2 of my cats had a veterinarian appt yesterday morning -
Ramie for a distemper vaccination, the cats for various other things.
 
The veterinarian saw the ferret first.  We pre-treated him with benedryl,
as you all recommend, tho not 30 minutes in advance - he had the
antihystamine and then the vaccination immediately afterward.  We were
then at the vet's for at least 30 minutes, and as I was walking out I
heard Ramone start to gag.  I immediately headed back in...
 
His reaction took the form of vomiting several times & 2 diarrhea stools,
one with a little blood in it.  His paw-pads turned cherry red, and, most
frightening, he became very still and lethargic.
 
They treated him with adrenaline, cortisone, more antihystamine, and
oxygen, repeating some or all of those things a couple of times.  The vet
is not a ferret specialist - he only sees 4 or 5 ferrets in our tiny small
town - but he likes them and has good general knowledge and he immediately
gave us all his attention and, for example, knew that a ferret would be
more comfortable with the larger size oxygen cone than the smaller.
Anyhow, Ramie stayed there for the day, and came home late afternoon.  He
remained pretty tired all last night, & a little shakey this a.m., but
tonite seems to be his old self, eating like a piggy and scratching at
the door to come out & play.
 
The vet also took the time to educate me a little about allergic
reactions - I didn't even realize the vaccine reactions are *allergic*
reactions.  I appreciated that.
 
Are there any longer term problems i should look for?  It seemed like he
got tired sooner than usual playing this evening.
 
My plans: I'll ask the vet to let both the manufacturer (I forgot to ask
which company) and the USDA (what is the address?) know about the vaccine
reaction.  I won't have that particular ferret vaccinated for distemper
again.  Anything else?
 
Thank you all.  My vet did know what he was doing - but I felt a lot less
helpless because of having read so much here about these reactions.
 
(my other ferret, who usually gets a disproportionate amount of the
attention in this house, was pretty disgruntled yesterday.)
 
---sharin
[Posted in FML issue 3183]