Of our 12 ferrets, three came with MF papers.  I had no argument with the
papers--Marshall Farms includes a brief but useful description of ferret
care.  And given how people generally are pretty ignorant about ferrets as
first-time buers, that information is certainly useful.  But I did notice
something that bothered me.  According to shot records noted by the pet
store on these papers, two of the ferrets had received FELINE distemper
shots.  Ack!  I was not able to verify what they might actually have been
vaccinated with.  Fortunately, they didn't appear to have any problems and
were vaccinated again later by our vet.  But I do wonder if some of the
distemper problems we hear of in ferrets are related to improper initial
vaccinations.
 
And speaking of vaccinations, I'm wondering how young ferrets are actually
administered vaccinations.  Do large-scale breeders use single-use
hypodermics?  I hope so, as there are obvious health implications to
multiple-use hypodermics.  I don't want to set off a round of speculation,
but would like to ask that anyone on the FML who has actually observed mass
vaccination let me know how it is done.
 
Jacqueline
[Posted in FML issue 3032]