One year Fannie and Farrah both developed respiratory congestion after their rabies vaccine. Farrah, already inflicted with insulinoma, never fully recovered and died a few months later. Fannie, who was younger and healthy, fully recovered and has been fine for 3 years since. I suspect there was a problem with the vaccine batch and our vet reported the reactions. I wrote a courteous letter explaining the problem to the vaccine manufacturer but never got a response. Just yesterday, Fannie had a delayed inflammatory response to her distemper vaccine. She has displayed sensitivity the past 3 years but this was the worst time and her vet is recommending no more distemper shots. She's healthy at 6 1/2 years old aside from being deaf. Today she appears normal and I'm not expecting lasting ramifications but plan to follow our vet's recommendations. During Fannie's episode, I naturally consulted ferret information on the net and noticed conflicting thought on how long the vaccine might be effective: 1 or 2 years. Does anyone know if studies show a definite length of time? For Fannie's sake I hope it's 2 years. Alice [Posted in FML issue 4117]