In response to Kim's post.. There is no math to ferret reactions to vaccines. Although it is rare to happen the very first time the ferret is vaccinated, it can happen the second, or third, or forth...... or never. We have vaccinated all the kids coming into the shelter. Most of these have unknown backgrounds or have never been to the veterinarina before, so they recieve two distemper vaccines, 2 - 3 weeks apart. Before opening the shelter, we boostered my 13. All this with no reaction.. until Saturday evening.... Our Vice President is a C.V.T. (and best friend!) and I have worked at a vet's office for a good 1.5 years.. We had always discuseed not doing vaccines if our vet was not open or available. We offer low cost vaccinations (Distemper only) for our members. We let our guard down.. we got comfortable.. we vaccinated one of our member's four ferrets Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. No vet offices around were open.. What a wake up call we got!!!! Within 30 seconds of his vaccine, Bamse Bear was out of it. His face, ears, and neck turned red, then purpleish. His tail was immediatly bottle brushed and he began to heave, trying to vomit. His breathing became extrememly labored. We already had an emergency kit with dosages etc. We had pre-treated (always do) with injectable Benedryl. We gave another dose of this and waited a few minutes. As I held him, monitoring his heart rate, Sue watched for any signs of recovery. After around 7 minutes, we gave him an injection of a steroid (Dex.) . His breathing got slighly less labored and some of the reddness disipated and his tail was slightly less bristled. However, he was still extremely lethargic and his heart rate slightly elevate. We were deciding rather to give a dose of Eppinefrin (sp?) or not when he had diarrhea- it was bloddy and liquidy. That was it- we rushed him to the emergency clinic... Needless to say, after a sleepless night for all involved, Bamse pulled through. On the way to the emergency clinic- Sue had tried to put in an IV- but his veins were collapsing. We gave him some Sub-Q fluids- which he did not absorb. I guess the point of my sharing this (sorry so long) experience is that if you are vaccinating at home- PLEASE do NOT do it alone, always have emergency medicine and dosages ready, and NEVER let your guard down. Many people go through years and years, ferret after ferret, with no reactions. However, it only takes one reaction to cause death if on so unprepared. Don't get comfortable like we did. If the emergency clinic had not been as close as it was, say another 20 minutes down the road, we would have lost Bamse. Oxygen and an IV are what saved him and most of us don't have an oxygen box at our shelters (LOL). Just be cautious and never get comfortable. It CAN happen to you and your fuzzy! Sorry so long... Michelle [Posted in FML issue 3558]