On the advice of the lawyer involved I'm posting some of the info I have found to help with the upcoming service ferret case in Canada. The lawyer thinks that it would be good if websites would include information all together on this score since there have been and are times when it is badly needed. What I post in these posts may be carried and posted -- without alteration and in complete form -- to any pro-ferret websites or blogs of others and to any pro-ferret newsletters, magazines, or other news service. Alterations done without my permission or carrying this information to an anti-ferret location will be considered a violation of copyright. The information may also be used by those wishing to send messages for advancing pro-ferret court cases, to improve the files of organizations which serve those with handicaps, and in letters to politicians to advance the knowledge of ferrets. Alternatively, pro-ferret people are always welcome to utilize these links and write their own articles and letters to help ferrets, of course! Some information which the lawyer has, such as hard-found but private contact information, some pdfs, etc. will not appear here, nor will most (perhaps all) abstracts -- which are legal to post but I am trying to save space and know people can look them up. Rabies info: http://www.nasphv.org/ (National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians) Here is the latest (Dec 2007 and it will being the Jan 2008 JAVMA (Journal of the American Medical Veterinary Association) Compendium of Animal Rabies Control and Prevention: http://www.nasphv.org/Documents/RabiesCompendium.pdf ... Notice in Section III for IMRAB 3: >Ferrets 1 ml 3 months Annually SC which is species, dose, age of first vaccination, how often to repeat, how to give the vaccine. Ferrets are NOT considered to be vaccinated if more than a year has passed. More rabies info: http://www.avma.org/issues/policy/rabies_control.asp (Guidelines for ordinances) http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/ (Loads of info at many different reading levels; even good ones as resources for a kid's school composition) http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/bushmeat/bush4.html http://www.vaccineinformation.org/rabies/qandadis.asp http://www.lawrencefire.com/safety_tips/rabies/rabies.asp FDA Veterinarian Newsletter, May/June 1991, Vol VI, No.III has a long article which goes into bite rates but is not readily available to those who do not already have copies, though references to it can be found. (The lawyer for this case has been forwarded a copy of the article.) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr57e507a1.htm Might be useful: http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus74fordhamlrev2847.htm The Animal Legal and Historical center Also (and this data was from BEFORE the 1998 improvement to the regulations for ferrets implicated in or accused of bites): >Abstract >Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association >July 15, 2000, Vol. 217, No. 2, Pages 190-194 >doi: 10.2460/javma.2000.217.190 > >Animal bite epidemiology and surveillance for rabies postexposure >prophylaxis > >Dale A. Moore , DVM, PhD William M. Sischo , DVM, PhD >Allison Hunter , BS Toni Miles , MD, PhD >Department of Biobehavioral Health, College of Health and Human >Development, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA >16802. (Moore); Department of Population Health and Reproduction, >School of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and >Research Center, University of California, Tulare, CA 93274. (Sischo, >Hunter); Department of Family Practice, College of Medicine, >University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San >Antonio, TX. (Miles) > ... > >Procedur--Data from animal bite reports from Pennsylvania county health >offices were summarized for 1995. Animal bite incidences for the state, >counties, various age groups, and various population densities were >calculated. Animal species, treatment, location of wounds, and PEP >recommendations were evaluated for exposures. > >Result--More than 16,000 animal-related potential rabies exposures were >reported from 65 of 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The highest incidence >was in children less than 5 years old (324/100,000). Of the 75% of >victims requiring wound treatment, 50% received antimicrobials, 29% >received a tetanus toxoid, and 19% had wounds sutured, were admitted >to hospitals, or were referred for plastic surgery. Although 75% of >exposures were to dogs, victims exposed to cats were 6 times as likely >to receive PEP (relative risk, 6.1; 95% confidence interval, 5.1 to >7.4). Thirty percent of 556 PEP were given for exposures to dogs, 44% >for cats, 7% for raccoons, 4% for bats, 2.5% for squirrels, 2.1% for >groundhogs, 2% for foxes, and 8% for exposures to other species. >Fifty-nine percent of owned dogs were up-to-date on rabies vaccinations >compared with 41% of owned cats. A member vet should be able to get you the article from <http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2000.217.190?journalCode=javma> http://www.dadehealth.org/downloads/epi_monthly_july_2006.pdf also has a comparative chart Georgia apparently had NO (?) reported ferret bites from 2004-2006 but charts for other animals: http://health.state.ga.us/pdfs/epi/gers/Nov07GER.pdf http://www.kcmo.org/health/pdf/Rabies_and_Animal_Bite_5th_ed_web.pdf is the worst I've found and here it is in pdf: http://www.bsas.org.uk/downloads/Vol69Part2_Oct_1999.pdf is supposed to have something from the UK but it is not opening right now so I don't know if it is relevant [continued...] <http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/letters/story.html?id=247c9d14-88af-4781-8feb-39fe8932ad81> www.wolfysluv.com/sean.html <http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ask-Veterinarian-700/Ferrets-continuing-care-facilities.htm> http://www.ferretrescue.ca/links.php http://www.supportourshelters.org/SOS-ShelterList.html http://www.ferret.org/links/shelters.html#Canada http://ferrethealth.org/vets/intl.txt http://www.ferret.org/links/vets.html Segment of discussion: If the allergists are not the ones associated with a university is having an allergy professor from a university an option? If not, then perhaps a representative of a company which makes the compounds needed for shots or SLIT might be willing to brag about how they are filling an "orphan" niche to get some publicity while emphasizing the rarity? I have heard that the Mayo Clinic provides such things but have NOT had any cause to verify it. At least three family groups are using ferrets for seizure alerts: <http://www.extremeweezils.com/ewfriends.html#cerino> <http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/media/critter-news/legal-news/ferrets-cause-eviction.aspx.pdf> <http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/letters/story.html?id=7bfb0564-303b-4bf9-a419-25656c03d919> A ferret who has helped an autistic child recover: http://www.modernferret.com/pressreleases/sean.html http://www.wolfysluv.com/seanval.html http://www.wolfysluv.com/bb.html In my own situation our furnace malfunctioned while my husband was out on a morning walk. Hilbert, a very trustworthy ferret, was out of the cage at the time. I was sleeping in and due to my asthma was beginning to having breathing problems from the fumes. Hilbert climbed the bed and gently and persistently kissed and nuzzled my face until I was aware enough to force myself up, turn off the furnace, and vent our home. My husband came home later to find us all huddled in the cold but clean breeze from an open door. Although i had thought that Hilbert merely saved me from a nasty asthma attack my physician said that he more likely saved my life and that of the other household pets as well as his own. I've read of 4 or 5 times when ferrets alerted humans to house fires and in doing so saved their families, but do NOT have refs for those though i guess i can try searches when I get a bit of free time. Discussion segments: Years ago a friend had to deal with a case here in NJ where a local health officer was insisting that ferrets are dangerous wild animals and that our Fish and Game (which licenses ferrets) in state documents considered them to be such. The case was dropped by that township that first day in court as soon as they saw that we had the head of that state division and the head state Public Health Veterinarian listed as witnesses for the plaintiff. ... Having a large enough computer copy of the DaVinci painting with the ferret made it obvious to people that ferrets have a long history as treasured pets. http://www.doctorbeer.com/joyce/ferrets/frhistpg.htm Not huge but a halfway reasonable size: http://www.artwatchinternational.org/db_images/08_n_LadyWithErmine.jpg On the advice of the lawyer involved I'm posting some of the info I have found to help with the upcoming service ferret case in Canada. The lawyer thinks that it would be good if websites would include information all together on this score since there have been and are times when it is badly needed. What I post in these posts may be carried and posted -- without alteration and in complete form -- to any pro-ferret websites or blogs of others and to any pro-ferret newsletters, magazines, or other news service. Alterations done without my permission or carrying this information to an anti-ferret location will be considered a violation of copyright. The information may also be used by those wishing to send messages for advancing pro-ferret court cases, to improve the files of organizations which serve those with handicaps, and in letters to politicians to advance the knowledge of ferrets. Alternatively, pro-ferret people are always welcome to utilize these links and write their own articles and letters to help ferrets, of course! Some information which the lawyer has, such as hard-found but private contact information, some pdfs, etc. will not appear here, nor will most (perhaps all) abstracts -- which are legal to post but I am trying to save space and know people can look them up. [continued...] Involved ferrets and other pets: Chest. 2005 May;127(5):1565-71. Effect of pet removal on pet allergic asthma. Shirai T, Matsui T, Suzuki K, Chida K. Department of Internal Medicine, Fujinomiya City General Hospital, 3-1 Nishiki-cho, Fujinomiya, 418-0076, Japan. http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/reprint/127/5/1565 Codina R, Reichmuth D, Lockey RF, Jaen C. Ferret Allergy. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2001;107:927. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine and James A. Haley V.A. Hospital, Tampa, FL 33612-4745, USA. http://health.usf.edu/medicine/internalmedicine/allergy/Faculty1.htm Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA. http://health.usf.edu/medicine/mpp/faculty.htm Nugent JS, Whisman B, Hagan LL. Ferret Allergy: Identification of Serum Specific IgE to Albumin with Crossreactivity to Cat. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003;111:S324 Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 4301 Jones Bridge Road Bethesda, Maryland 20814 http://www.usuhs.mil/faculty.htm http://allergies.about.com/od/animalandpetallergy/a/ferretallergy.htm About.com on allergies to ferrets by Daniel More, MD http://centralcoastallergy.com/ <http://medschool.ucsf.edu/faculty/index.asp?cmd=SearchList&OldCmd=AdvQuery&ctlSelID=79015> <http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/oeme/abstract.00022707-200511000-00006.htm> Can not bring up the full article (which will hopefully have charts or rates) but notice this conclusion: Conclusions: This study suggests that the risk of LAA increases with duration of exposure to animals and work in animal related tasks. Incidence might be reduced by limiting hours per week of exposure to laboratory animals. Pet allergy (in general ) rates in children (most will be to cats, but dogs, horses and possibly some others will be more common allergens than ferrets: <http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtld/2001/00000005/00000011/art00012> The Google Scholar search link mentions percentages: Incidence of asthma diagnosis and self-reported allergy in relation to the school environment...G Smedje, D Norback - Int J Tuberc Lung Dis, 2001 - ingentaconnect.com... In 1993, pollen and pet allergies were reported by 9.8% and 8.2% of pupils, respectively Full text: [Link below has expired... sorry :-( BIG] <http://docstore.ingenta.com/cgi-bin/ds_deliver/1/u/d/ISIS/45361294.1/iuatld/ijtld/2001/00000005/00000011/art00012/B004149C488C15B412178075968FF961EBD014BA62.pdf?link=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/error/delivery&format=pdf> <http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118716461/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0> A general pet allergy write-up in: <http://www.gerber.com/content/usa/html/pages/pediatricbasics/pdffiles/PedBasics_095.PDF> http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S003139550570362X The following actually involve mink or fur trade animals or their pelts or waste in general, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE ALSO LOOKED AT *FITCH* (ferrets used for fur) so their contact info is included as well links to the abstracts http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9476806 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15592872 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12397421 General on animal allergy cross-reactivity (ex. of cross-reactivity: people who are allergic to cats who are also allergic to ferrets): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9003217 Part of discussion: SO, what is needed is to illustrate how many, many allergens bus drivers and passengers are exposed to already and how those are far more likely to cause allergy problems than the ferrets would. One very straight-forward way to do this would be to show how hard it is for allergists to get the ferret allergen for shots or for SLIT (sublingual immunotherapy). The products for dog and cat allergies are made by loads of places because they are such common allergies, but allergies to ferrets are rare so there isn't much market for the product meaning that the product is hard to find. It's like getting it for pine allergy. Pine allergies are rare so few places make it for that. On the other hand oak allergies are common and rag weed allergies even more so so those are easier to get. Most people should understand that comparison because so many react to ragweed and so few react to pine. Mention that secure carriers protect ferrets. After all, the woman can touch the ferret through the bars, and even people who use ferrets as seizure alert animals can still be warned by caged ferrets because their agitation levels would be high and they could even scream (a rare occurrence for a ferret, as you know). There is a lot of bad "info" out there and even worse assumptions about allergies... On the advice of the lawyer involved I'm posting some of the info I have found to help with the upcoming service ferret case in Canada. The lawyer thinks that it would be good if websites would include information all together on this score since there have been and are times when it is badly needed. What I post in these posts may be carried and posted -- without alteration and in complete form -- to any pro-ferret websites or blogs of others and to any pro-ferret newsletters, magazines, or other news service. Alterations done without my permission or carrying this information to an anti-ferret location will be considered a violation of copyright. The information may also be used by those wishing to send messages for advancing pro-ferret court cases, to improve the files of organizations which serve those with handicaps, and in letters to politicians to advance the knowledge of ferrets. Alternatively, pro-ferret people are always welcome to utilize these links and write their own articles and letters to help ferrets, of course! Some information which the lawyer has, such as hard-found but private contact information, some pdfs, etc. will not appear here, nor will most (perhaps all) abstracts -- which are legal to post but I am trying to save space and know people can look them up. [Posted in FML 6060]