I took Hellmutt, my 5 lb.  hob, in for his distemper vaccine on Thur.  Mutt
had a very bad reaction last year when I vaccinated him at home.  I posted
about it at the time.  I thought you might be interested in what happened
this time.  I pretreated him with 1ml of children's Benedryl, twice a day
for 2 days before his injection.  Before I took him to the vets, I gave him
1.5 ml of Benedryl.  My vet injected him with 4mg. of DexNaPhos just before
vaccinating him with Fervac-D in his hip.  (I vaccinate on the scruff of the
neck.)  Within 10 minutes he had turned a bright red  (Really noticable on
him since he is a very light silver).  He had one normal stool and then
diarrhea.  There was no blood in the diarrhea this time.  (Last year he had
passed pure blood.) My vet injected him with 1:10,000 epinephrine, .3ml SQ.
The redness cleared up somewhat but then he vomited.  She then decided to
give him 2 mg DexNaPhos IV.  He was much better in a few minutes but was
totally wiped out.
 
Taking a ferret to the vets knowing that he is going to have a very bad
experience is quite frightening.  I don't know what I will do next year.  My
vet said if they weren't so susceptible to distemper she would recommend not
vaccinating him at all.  She also mentioned that his heartbeat was greatly
increased after the shot of epi and that since he is young, 2 yo, and
healthy it isn't a problem but will be when he gets older.  I will probably
try a different vaccine next year and hope for better results.  I definitely
won't vaccinate him again with Fervac.
 
Cindy
[Posted in FML issue 1437]