Dear Melissa:
 
My recommendation for vaccination pretreatment would be 2 mg/kilogram
diphenhydramine (trade name Benedryl) administered by your vet via a shot
10 minutes prior to the vaccination.  I know that a lot of owners and
shelter operators are giving children's Benedryl elixir orally 10 minutes
prior to the vaccination.  Benedryl has a high markgin of safety, so 2 mg
even for a small female should be fine.
 
I much prefer the injection, beause the rates of absorption are much more
reliable, than oral.  Variation in oral absorption will be seen between
individuals, and will be affected by the presence of food in the stomach,
among other things.  You may want to wait 20-30 minutes if you are
pretreating orally.
 
>When you have a chance would you be so kind as to post recommended
>benedryl pretreatment dosages on the FML?  I've seen various dosages of
>various types of benedryl from different FML members and would like to
>see an 'official' recommendation from an experienced ferret vet such as
>yourself.  My kids are both a year old now and will be due for annual
>shots in January.  I haven't pretreated for shots before but I know after
>those first couple of exposures the risk of a bad reaction increases.
 
That is correct - animals very rarely have reactions on their intial
series - but repeated exposure does increase the possibility of
anaphylactic reaction.
 
>Also, do you recommend pretreatment for Distemper (Fervac) only, or also
>for Rabies (Imrab)?
 
I currently recommend for Fervac, as well as Galaxy.  Imrab seems to have
a very low rate of reaction, so I am not currently recommending it (but
it wouldn't hurt.)  Also, I also recommend to break up the vaccines - if
possible, give rabies and distemper shots on different days.  And make sure
to stay at the vet's for a minimum of 30 minutes after every vaccination.
 
While the overall chance of a vaccine reaction for an individual is low,
and there is still no definitive literature on the subject, I think that it
is prudent for owners and vets to do everything possible to minimize the
risk of reaction.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3239]