Yes, last Spring and Summer I guess I wound up hearing of something over a half dozen households with ferrets who had distemper. A person stops counting at some point. At least one didn't know ferrets needed vaccines; at least one didn't know kits need a series of vaccines rather than just what they had before reaching the pet stores; at least one had been made afraid of vaccines from reading things without bearing on ferrets from rumors or from others' voiced concerns. One had a lot of ferrets. Most had 3 to 5. If memory serves only one of those households had any ferrets who had been vaccinated so except for that home all of the ferrets were lost. Monster was lucky in a way because the symptoms can be truly terrible so at least he escaped some of the horror, but such a very sad and unnecessary loss of life if he'd only been vaccinated... Poor little guy. Everyone who cared for him must be heartbroken. Losses like his are why the vaccination fears of "what if" which have no proven foundation for any of the ferrets' vaccines scare those who know what the result of not vaccinating can bring. So sad to think of a little 6 month old for whom life should have been just starting instead dying... At least perhaps his death may cause others to better understand the importance of vaccinating, so Monster may just have helped save the lives of many ferrets. Sometimes there can be some comfort in that. Some of life's lessons just do get learned the hard way. We have all been there and each of us will be there again fro some other lessons. I hope that little Monster's people don't torture themselves over this, but instead use what they have learned to help save other ferrets. Maybe others could, too. Wherever you are in Monster's memory remind your local pet stores that kits need a series of canine distemper vaccines and that a rabies vaccine comes later, and remind them to let those acquiring ferrets know this; carry a memo in your newsletter; mention it when folks ask about your ferrets during a walk. Let Monster's memory save a number of ferrets this year. The only ferrets who should not be vaccinated are those with a history of serious (not minor) vaccine reactions, or one who is dealing with some serious illnesses and meds (like ferrets on chemo). [Posted in FML issue 4109]