I'd like to ask the FMLers for help in pursuing the next step in uncovering
the true rate of severe reactions to vaccination in ferrets.  I am proposing
a case-control study to determine what puts a ferret at risk for severe
reactions.  I would also like to construct a study that is worthy of
publication in one of the major vet journals, such as JAVMA.  This will
build on the diligent work done with the ACME/*Star survey that showed that
severe reactions do occur.  If a particular vaccine poses a greater risk or
if a ferret with a particular risk profile is more at risk, then a published
study will reach vets everywhere, not just on the FML.
 
To start this project, I'll need to confer with veterinarians who (1) have
seen ferrets react to *either* a distemper or rabies vaccine and (2) vets
who vaccinate most or all of their ferrets with Galaxy-D (Fromm-D
previously).  I would need the names, telephone numbers, email addresses
(optional--they don't need to be online) and the city or county covered by
their practice.  Vets who have epidemiologic training are particularly
needed.  (One way to tell is if the vet has an "MPH" after his/her "DVM.")
Participating vets will also be asked if they want to help co-author the
paper.  After the study is designed, I'll come back to ask those on the FML
to come forward with reports of severe reactions.  For now, I only need
recommendations of vets as described above.
 
On other topics...Debbie Riccio and Sophie Montgomery discussed the relative
sizes of North American vs.  Aussie and UK ferrets.  Nutrition could still
be an issue.  Nutrition has a cumulative effect on growth and total size
that can take several generations to be seen.  Best example I remember is of
an ecologic study done observing deer or moose on an island in Lake Superior
(Grand Isle?).  Because the animals can only migrate as far as the edge of
the island, they go through a cycle where the animals get bigger with each
generation until over- population depletes the island of most of the food.
The females that survive the subsequent winter give birth to offspring that
grow up to be much smaller than their mothers, and even if the food supply
becomes plentiful, it takes multiple generations for the animals to reach
the size attained before the bust.  It's been observed in children of women
who were undernourished during WWII.  My question is whether ferrets have
been introduces as pets more recently in Australia than in North America?
If so, is it possible that ferrets have been reared with high-nutrient food
in N.A. for a few more generations than in Australia?  Maybe Aussie ferrets
will catch up.  (Still doesn't explain why they're smaller in England...
unless the Pommie Ferts have been bred to be small for hunting [I'm
rationalizing now]).
 
As for the breed-or-die option given female ferrets in the wild...it's not
that uncommon.  Even in humans, women who don't have kids early on (teens or
20s) have a higher incidence of breast and ovarian cancer.  And the poor May
Fly, who spends its entire life as a kid, emerges as an adult and has a
single day to breed and then die.  Bleh.  I've heard geneticists say that
sex is a gene's way of reproducing and what happens to the body after it's
completed its task is secondary.  Mother Nature isn't always a kindly mother.
 
   --Jeff Johnston ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 1564]