Ruby- I think the vets are incompetent, and your friend is VASTLY misinformed. Canine distemper is VERY contagious--you can carry the virus in on your shoes. Annual vaccines are required to keep the titer up enough to protect your ferrets from a horrible death or a life with vast neurological damage. Most ferrets die from distemper. The few that survive are badly damaged for life. The kit shots do not protect them enough. Rabies vaccines, in my opinion, are much less critical. Mostly because all the ferrets I know are kept inside, and the risk of them being exposed to a rabid animal is much less. If you house your ferrets outside for extended periods, I would be sure to vaccinate them. The main way rabies vaccinations save ferrets is if they nip someone, and the person is a nervous Nelly. If you can show a vaccination paper, they are much more likely to "forget it" than if you don't have the paper. Otherwise, depending on the state you live in, they could be taken from you and put in quarantine for ten days if it's an enlightened stage, or euthanized and tested if it's not. Better to get the vaccine, and not have to worry about it. Melodyt and the elven eight [Posted in FML issue 3799]