I think that you can probably search the archives and find a lot of
discussion on this topic.  My viewpoint hasn't changed - distemper in
ferrets is 100% fatal, and a very ugly way to die - rashes, pus from
the eyes and nose, loss of the immune system, diarrhea, pneumonia and
death.  Not just the individual, but all other unprotected ferrets
they come in contact with.
 
There is no doubt that anaphylactic reactions do occur with vaccinations in
ferrets - most commonly with Fervac-D, and to a lesser extent with Galaxy-D
and Imrab, however with proper premedication with antihistamine, and close
supervision for 30 minutes, the majority of reactions can be avoided or at
least ameliorated.
 
This is no amelioration of distemper in an unvaccinated animal - [They die
of] this animal disease, but not without serving as a virus factory to pass
on the disease to those around them.
 
We have had this discussion before - you do hear a lot about the reactions.
What you don't hear about is the 98% or so of vaccinates that have no
problem.  I've never had a problem in my own ferrets in 8 years of
vaccinating with Fervac-D (although now I use Galaxy, just to be on the
safe side) and everyone gets annual rabies boosters.
 
I would strongly encourage you to discuss this with your vet and get those
vaccinations.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
  -----------
 
>I recently took my furbabies in for their distemper vaccines.  One of my
>boys reacted severly to Fervac.  After the experience, thinking I had
>almost killed my baby, my gut feeling is to never vaccinate him again.
>However there is pressure to vaccinate for Rabies for legal reasons.
 
Many ferrets that react to one vaccine do not react to the other.
Definitely pretreat, but I would recommend that you do vaccinate against
rabies.
 
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
  -------
 
>So my questions are how necessary is it?  Whats the risk if they go with
>out getting it?  Whats the risk of a reaction if they do get it?  Am I
>putting them in more harm not getting it?  And if they do react to it
>what will they have to go through and what is done to keep them from
 
In my opinion, it is necessary to at least vaccinate them as babies, a
year later, and then as indicated by their risk of exposure to distemper.
The risks without vaccinating are a horrible illness and death, as
distemper in ferrets is very, very nasty.  You can have your veterinarian
pretreat before vaccinating, and stay at your vets' office for at least a
half hour following the vaccine.  I do recommend that it be done.
 
Just an anecdotal thing here, with no scientific proof to it.  I have
noticed that ferrets who have the vaccine injection site massaged gently
for a couple of minutes after the vaccine is given are less likely to
react.  Any one else noticed this?
 
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
 
[Sukie note: Rumor has it that the Merial Recombitek vaccine will be
released soon and someone here on the FML said that her vet would be
getting that in.  I was hoping that she would reply with expected release
date but have not seen that, yet.  This vaccine looks to be by far the
safest option for canine distemper vaccinations, but meanwhile the actual
reaction rates are lower than the noise about them would make them seem,
and canine distemper is a horrible torturous death.  Just use precautions
and utilize options if reactions occur.  Over the last 19 years (a bit
less -- since can't recall when the current vax first appeared though we
used killed-virus CD vax not grown in ferrets at first) we have had 4
with allergies to CD vaccines (one allergic to two types), and one with
an allergy to Imrab.]
[Posted in FML issue 3477]