I was just curious, my ferret Everest is going in for his yearly Vaccines
next week.  He's having the distemper vaccine next week and rabies the
following week.  My knowledgeable ferret vet is now using the new Purevax
vaccine by Merial instead of the Fervac-D, which is what he's had in the
past.  Knock on wood, my ferret has never had a reaction, but since he's
having a different brand vaccine I'm a little nervous.  I suppose what I'm
asking for is just a little reassurance that in most cases this is a good
vaccine.  My vet tells me that she has had fewer reactions with this
brand, and since my little one has never had problems everything will be
fine.  We always pre-medicate 1/2 before with Benadryl and I always stay
at the vets for at least 30-45 minutes afterwards and monitor him
throughout the day.  I would appreciate any opinions on this new vaccine.
 
I was also curious if anyone had ever noticed this type of behavior with
their ferret(s)?
 
For over a year now my ferret will sometimes do the strangest movements
while eating.  I have not been able to figure out if he does is when he's
chewing or swallowing, (I tend to think it's while chewing but not 100%
sure) he'll yerk his head in one direction and sometimes turn his head all
the way so that he's facing the ceiling, while gently moving his head.
At first I though maybe he was choking, but that was not the case, I have
taken him to the vet several times and she has not felt or seen anything
in his throat to concern her.  I have kind of just accepted that this is
what he does, however yesterday I tried breaking his pellets into smaller
pieces and he had no problems and did not do any of these weird movements.
I will continue to monitor him and see if all this time the problem has
been that the pellets (Marshall) have been to big for him to chew.  Has
anyone ever noticed this with their ferret(s)?  The other thing that
Everest does is he will sometimes drop a pellet in water and then dunk his
head in his bowl and search for it, retrieve it and then eat it.  It's
quite funny to watch him do this.  He definitely prefers his food moist
and if you happen to be around while he's eating he'll give the cutest
look and let you know he wants you to dip the pellets (individually) and
feed them to him (No, I don't do this all the time).  He's quite spoiled
and particular about his food.  Well, hopefully it's just the size of the
pellets that were to big and that is why he was doing those things, I'll
keep you posted.
 
FYI: all of you that were so helpful in providing tips on the other foods
that are better than the Marshall food, I still have had no luck in
getting him to switch.  He's so stubborn and just eats around or picks
out the new brands (Totally Ferret, Path Valley Farms).  I'll keep trying,
I'm always open to suggestions on how to get him to switch.
 
I've written long enough. Thanks for all you help.
 
Carolina and ferret Everest
[Posted in FML issue 3686]