I want to thank everyone on the FML who has shared their stories of ferret vacination reactions- they may have saved Pickles life! On Monday, I hauled all four ferrets in to the vet to get their rabies shots. I stayed a half hour after they were administered and thought I was in the clear. I had planned on going in to work, but I guess something told me that I shouldn't. After, eating lunch, I went in to check on the ferrets. Twinkie came bounding towards me and Kat and Pretz seemed fine. Pickle then came sauntering towards me at a painfully slow pace. He plopped down at my feet in his usual "I want to be held pose." As I picked him up I noticed that he did _not_ want to be held and was swallowing noisily and breathing rather heavy. I knew something was certainly wrong when he did not struggle when I put him in the carrier- he just curled up and laid down. The drive to the vet was fortunently a short one and our vet saw him immediately. She said that he breathing was a little labored and gave him a shot of benedryl with a steroid and told me to check on him the rest of the day. Next year he will get his shot with cortisone and if he still reacts, we will forgo the rabies all together. I thank God that I decided to stay home. Pickle was doing just fine this morning and eating like the little glutton he is. From now on I will make sure to schedule their shots when I know for certain I can have the whole day off to monitor them. Sometimes I feel as though I am becoming paranoid about all that can happen to my little babies, but here is a great case where over caution paid off. Thanks again. Heather, Pickle, Kit Kat, Twinkie (with the still sad looking tail), and Pretzel [Posted in FML issue 1252]