Although the standard advice is to wait in the vet's office for a 30-minute
observation period to watch for vaccine reactions, once again we've seen
that this time period may not be adequate.  Last Saturday, Jasmine had her
Fervac shot.  She seemed fine at the vet's office, but about 2 1/2 hours
later we noticed vomit and diarrhea in the cage.  We took her right back to
the office, where Dr. DiMaria gave her a Benadryl injection.  She did not
want to give Jasmine a cortisone shot because that may interfere with the
efficacy of the vaccine and Jasmine had no symptoms at the time.  About 6
hours later, probably when the Benadryl wore off, Jasmine started having
wheezing spells.  We watched her carefully and retrieved the travel cage
from the basement to prepare for an emergency trip.  We decided that if she
had one more wheezing episode, we would take her to the emergency clinic.
Fortunately, the wheezing stopped completely and we didn't have to go.
 
This is the third delayed reaction we've seen in our ferrets.  Several years
ago, Ben and Jerry had severe reactions to Fervac and had to be treated at
an emergency clinic.  Jerry's reaction started about 3 hours after the shot,
and Ben's occurred at the emergency clinic about 5 hours after the shot.
We're convinced that ferrets should be watched carefully for the rest of the
day, not just for 30 minutes.  I remember how terrified we were when Jerry
was in the midst of a severe reaction and we had trouble finding the phone
number of the emergency clinic.  Everyone, please find out where there is a
ferret-friendly emergency clinic near you *before* you need to use it.
 
While I'm on the subject of emergencies, I also want to tell everyone about
another frightening situation.  Yesterday, there was a gas leak in our
neighborhood.  Homes were not officially evacuated, but the gas smell spread
for at least 3 blocks, and firemen were checking the area with gas meters.
The street around the corner was filled with fire engines and utility
trucks.  I had come home for lunch when I saw what was happening.  I was
afraid to go back to work and leave the animals behind, so I quickly
outfitted the ferrets' travel cage with bedding, food, water...and ferrets.
The animals rode back to work with me and spent the afternoon safe and sound
in the car in the college parking lot.  Fortunately, during this time of
year leaving them in the car is an option.  I wanted to share this story
with everyone as a reminder to have some sort of evacuation plan in mind.
 
Clare Sebok (hoping next week will be uneventful)
[Posted in FML issue 2153]