There are three options for canine distemper vaccines for ferrets. Merial makes Purevax but production is intermittent. Purevax has the lowest rate of allergic reactions. United made Fervac which seems to have the worst rate of allergic reactions. United is looking for a buyer but is selling off some bits and pieces already, for instance its CEP test for ADV has been sold. They stopped Fervac. Fervac and Purevax are the only canine distemper vaccines that have the right testing to know that they actually prevent canine distemper for a year or more. Galaxy has a small study in which it prevented distemper for a short period in a small subset of ferrets. It has not had the testing needed to know for sure that it is effective for longer periods of time. There are anecdotes of effectiveness, but as a saying a dear friend passed on to me goes "The plural of anecdote is not data." Besides, it is already known (actual careful studies) that if canine distemper is introduced to a colony of ferrets where 75% or more of the ferrets have had a canine distemper vaccine which is effective during the time then the rate of spread of canine distemper will be low to non-existant, so the experiences from shelters where everyone is vaccinated or required to provide proof of vaccination when left there do not necessarily mean that Galaxy is effect beyond the short term. Now, that said, the last time we got our canine distemper vax they were Galaxy, but we don't take our ferrets to shows. I suspect that it works for long enough, but suspecting and knowing for sure are two entirely different things, and it is always important with suspicions and hypotheses to keep that in mind. based on the same sort of guesswork we personally as providing CDV vaccines to our own ferrets every 18 months to decrease exposures, but are of course, providing rabies vaccinations annually. We do NOT know if or how risky that personal choice is and neither does anyone else because the needed data do not exist, so I am *NOT* advising this, just saying what we are trying. A sort-of fourth option is using one of the canine multiple vaccine that has not been developed in ferret tissue cultures and which is a killed vaccine, but that can be tricky with some. Way back when all that we had were avianized (grown in eggs) canine vaccines. The downside of those was that the reaction rate was higher, but that technique produced vaccines which actually protected ferrets for a life time. Almost no vaccines are grown in eggs any longer; influenza vaccines are an exception. (Unlike current vaccines there actually were long term studies done mostly because that info was desired for dogs with the ferret being the research animal of choice at the time.) It is known from past outbreaks that exposures to canine distemper among ferrets who have not had a current canine distemper vaccine in over 2 or 3 years does result in distemper infections, with the unvaccinated dying but the previously vaccinated (those years ago) surviving with marked neural damage and decreased quality and quantity of life. It would be wonderful to have Galaxy tested for effectiveness for a long enough time span, and it would be wonderful to have any ferret vaccinations tested to see just how long they are effective. List members can learn more about canine distemper vaccines by reading in the FML Archives (The addy is in the header of every day's FML.) and the FHL Archives (The addy is in my signature below.). -- Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List co-moderator http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives fan http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ replacing http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress advisor http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5157]