It is important to note that there are NOT new vaccination protocols for
dogs.  Those are for cats only.  It is also important to note that only
about half of veterinarians (including members of the Feline Practitioners
Association) agree with the new protocols.  There simply aren't any
comprehensive studies that show that cats retain immunity for any longer
than the one year proposed by the vaccine manufacturer.
 
In fact, a couple of brand new studies in dogs show that they do NOT retain
good immunity for much more than a year or two in most cases.
 
There is no way to know how any of this applies to ferrets, as there do not
exist any antibody tests that can tell you if a ferret has good immunity.
The only way to know is to challenge the ferret with live virus exposure.
How many people are willing to risk that?
 
There are also no good studies showing any link at all between vaccination
and long-term health problems.  Even the proposed link between some feline
vaccines and tumors is highly questionable due to the fact that most of the
cats vets see are vaccinated, so of course the patient sample will be
skewed in that direction.  There is no control group of unvaccinated cats
to compare to.  I suspect unvaccinated cats get the same tumors, we just
tend not to see unvaccinated cats in very large numbers.  They just don't
get taken to the vet.
 
Only a long-term study with good controls will give us the answers.  Don't
be too quick to embrace the "less is better" philosophy.
 
Debbie Kemmerer
[Posted in FML issue 2423]