To the anonymous poster - I'm not trying to change your mind and this is no flame. Just sharing some facts and helpful hints that you may find useful. >vaccinate for distemper, until someone can find a GUARANTEED vaccine >that won't kill them!. ANY vaccine can cause a reaction. It would be great if there was one out that with a guarantee, but unfortunately there are no guarantees like that in life :) There are things that you can do to help prevent or lessen vaccine reactions, though. Stress seems to be a major cause of a ferret reacting, in my experience, so I do my best to keep everyone relaxed and calm. I always bring a treat with me to the vet's office to keep them distracted during the actual vaccination and most don't even flinch. I noticed that more of my kids were reacting in the summer, when it was very hot and humid - maybe a connection between the drastic temperature change from outside to inside the vet clinic? I started vaccinating my kids in the cooler months (hard to do with shelter kids, but you can do it with your own) and the vaccine reaction rate went down. A friend who was having lots of reactions started to fast her ferrets 3 hours before the vaccine appointment. This also helped reduce her reactions. Pretreating with benadryl is another good idea. I normally only do this with a ferret that has already had a reaction, but some vets feel that pre-treatment should be done regardless. >You know what strikes me as odd? While I see - almost weekly - a >story about a ferret having a horrid reaction, and/or dying from being >vaccinated (pretreated or not, vet on hand or not) - I have yet to see >ANY stories about someone's ferret actually contracting distemper and >dying from it...(beyond someone's well meaning "advise and description). Then you must not have heard about the lady in NJ that lost over 20 of her 30 ferrets to Canine Distemper because she did not vaccinate correctly and didn't vaccinate some (this was a couple years ago). Or the time when a shelter in OH got in two ferrets that had Canine Distemper. I could go on, but I'm sure you get my point. The stories may not be coming to the FML, but they *did* happen. I agree that a vaccination reaction is scary, but CD is even scarier since it's fatal. My suggestion for those that don't want to vaccinate - at least get their kit series done and their first annual booster. Then make sure you take appropriate precautions to protect them. Hope this helps! Mary ***************************** Mary McCarty-Houser Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Assn of Centre Cty www.ferretrescue.com [Posted in FML issue 4617]