>... My Chico had a severe reaction to the Imrab vac. that he received.  My
>vet said that his reaction is none like he has seen before out of all the
>ferrets he has given rabies vaccinations to.  Approx.  10 minutes after he
>received his shot - he began throwing up,...
 
Your Chico and our Squirt are Imrab reactor brothers!  Squirt nearly died
after his first yearly booster with a very similar reaction.  Because we
didn't know any better at the time, we had both rabies and distember
vaccinations done at the same time.  The next year we pre-medicated before
each vaccination and tried them separately.  We confirmed that the rabies
vaccine was a problem.  Even with the premedication he reacted strongly.
Since then, he hasn't gotten another rabies vaccination.
 
Given our experience, I wouldn't suggest you even try the pre-medication
before a rabies vaccination.  Rabies needs direct contact with an infected
animal to spread, unlike distemper and so Chico can live just fine without
the rabies vaccination.  Just take special care to never put Chico in a
situation where a nip or a bite to someone else might occur.  He won't have
the rabies Compendium to protect him.  We do this with Squirt which is in a
way very disappointing.  He has always been our best behaved ferret - I
think he sometimes thinks he's human.  He doesn't bite us even in play.  He
was a great ferret ambassador who has since had to give up his title.
 
-kim, squirt (shots?  YUCK!), pippi (double yuck!), atlas (ee-ya-ya-yah!),
 and jinx (can I bite it back?)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]    |<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 2380]