Charlie, our sweet 3-year-old ferret, had a severe reaction to Fervac Friday evening. Two years ago he had a mild reaction; last year he was pre-treated with Benadryl and had no reaction. This time he received a Benadryl injection before the vaccination; about 10 minutes after receiving Fervac he started to vomit. He went limp and his nose turned bright red. His vet, Dr. Stacy DiMaria of West Frederick Veterinary Hospital, immediately gave him a shot of dexamethasone, but this wasn't enough to stop the reaction. She gave him epinephrine, and even after this, he was still very weak and had trouble breathing. Charlie was then given oxygen. About 2 hours after the vaccination, Charlie was still lethargic, his color wasn't normal, and he had episodes of labored breathing. We were very grateful that Dr. DiMaria and her staff stayed long beyond closing time to attend to Charlie. At about 10 p.m. we decided to take Charlie to an emergency clinic so he could be monitored overnight. Dr. DiMaria felt he was stable enough for the trip and called the emergency clinic to tell them to expect us. Charlie spent the night at the emergency clinic; fortunately he didn't require any further treatment except Benadryl. We brought him home the next morning, with instructions to give him Benadryl every 8 hours for 3 days and the recommendation never to vaccinate him again. When Dr. DiMaria called to see how Charlie was, she said she had never seen a ferret take so long to respond to treatment. Over the weekend Charlie was sleepier than usual but otherwise back to normal. We're very happy to have him back home; it's scary that we came so close to losing him. Clare and Bill Sebok with Buttercup, Bridgett, Bonnie, and Charlie the ferrets Patrick the Sheltie Felix the cat [Posted in FML issue 3327]