My ferret Ramone & 2 of my cats had a veterinarian appt yesterday morning - Ramie for a distemper vaccination, the cats for various other things. The veterinarian saw the ferret first. We pre-treated him with benedryl, as you all recommend, tho not 30 minutes in advance - he had the antihystamine and then the vaccination immediately afterward. We were then at the vet's for at least 30 minutes, and as I was walking out I heard Ramone start to gag. I immediately headed back in... His reaction took the form of vomiting several times & 2 diarrhea stools, one with a little blood in it. His paw-pads turned cherry red, and, most frightening, he became very still and lethargic. They treated him with adrenaline, cortisone, more antihystamine, and oxygen, repeating some or all of those things a couple of times. The vet is not a ferret specialist - he only sees 4 or 5 ferrets in our tiny small town - but he likes them and has good general knowledge and he immediately gave us all his attention and, for example, knew that a ferret would be more comfortable with the larger size oxygen cone than the smaller. Anyhow, Ramie stayed there for the day, and came home late afternoon. He remained pretty tired all last night, & a little shakey this a.m., but tonite seems to be his old self, eating like a piggy and scratching at the door to come out & play. The vet also took the time to educate me a little about allergic reactions - I didn't even realize the vaccine reactions are *allergic* reactions. I appreciated that. Are there any longer term problems i should look for? It seemed like he got tired sooner than usual playing this evening. My plans: I'll ask the vet to let both the manufacturer (I forgot to ask which company) and the USDA (what is the address?) know about the vaccine reaction. I won't have that particular ferret vaccinated for distemper again. Anything else? Thank you all. My vet did know what he was doing - but I felt a lot less helpless because of having read so much here about these reactions. (my other ferret, who usually gets a disproportionate amount of the attention in this house, was pretty disgruntled yesterday.) ---sharin [Posted in FML issue 3183]