>You can add two more to this list.  Two years ago, two of our ferrets,
>Ben and Jerry, had severe reactions to Fervac-D.  That almost doubles this
>count of three.
 
I am genuninely sorry for the reactions.  I am not a huge fan of this
vaccine or this company.  But they are the only manufacturer of a vaccine
that has been tested and approved for ferrets.  They support ferrets.
 
Unfortunately it is not statistically relevant to add random cases like
this.  Since Fervac is the only approved distemper vaccine for ferrets it is
the most widely used.  I honestly think the Acme/STAR* survey did not reach
a wide enough audience to get a real picture of what vaccines are used.
Since it is the most widely used distemper vaccine for ferrets you would
expect to hear about more reactions to it.  Thats just the way probability
and statistics work.  There are more Chevrolets on the roads than there are
Lancias.  If you read that more people were in accidents with Chevrolets
that wouldn't mean that Chevrolets were a worse car that had more accidents
individually.  It would mean that there were so many more Chevrolets that a
randomly selected car was more likely to be a Chevrolet.  You would actually
have to know how many Chevrolets and how many Lancias were in accidents and
divide that by the number of Chevrolets and Lancias respectively.
 
Another thing I am curious about, were these ferrets also vaccinated with
Imrab-3 at the same time?  (or close?) I have heard way too many stories
about reactions to Imrab as well but again these are anecdotal and not
statistically relevent by themselves.
 
Most of the vaccinations I am aware of are local breeders.  I do not not of
any of these breeders who specifically "like" Fervac-D.  This includes me.
If Solvay were to make the effort to support ferrets and get Galaxy-D
tested and approved I would definitely consider switching.  I have heard
similar comments from almost all of these folks.
 
But we can not get around the simple fact that Fervac-D is approved and
tested.  It works at least to a certain degree.  Galaxy-D and the other
canine distemper vaccines have not tested been tested nor approved.  There
is no evidence that Galaxy-D would do anything to help prevent distemper in
ferrets.  I have been close to people with ferrets that died from distemper.
I will not risk my ferrets lives by using a vaccine that has not been
tested.  Distemper is far more serious a risk than a reaction to a
vaccination (in a ferret with no reaction history).  If I ever have a ferret
react to Fervac I will not use that vaccine on that ferret again and would
have to gamble on something else - likely Galaxy-D.
 
Again I am truly sorry for anybody who has had a ferret react to a
vaccination.
 
bill and diane killian
[Posted in FML issue 1541]