Although the standard advice is to wait in the vet's office for a 30-minute observation period to watch for vaccine reactions, once again we've seen that this time period may not be adequate. Last Saturday, Jasmine had her Fervac shot. She seemed fine at the vet's office, but about 2 1/2 hours later we noticed vomit and diarrhea in the cage. We took her right back to the office, where Dr. DiMaria gave her a Benadryl injection. She did not want to give Jasmine a cortisone shot because that may interfere with the efficacy of the vaccine and Jasmine had no symptoms at the time. About 6 hours later, probably when the Benadryl wore off, Jasmine started having wheezing spells. We watched her carefully and retrieved the travel cage from the basement to prepare for an emergency trip. We decided that if she had one more wheezing episode, we would take her to the emergency clinic. Fortunately, the wheezing stopped completely and we didn't have to go. This is the third delayed reaction we've seen in our ferrets. Several years ago, Ben and Jerry had severe reactions to Fervac and had to be treated at an emergency clinic. Jerry's reaction started about 3 hours after the shot, and Ben's occurred at the emergency clinic about 5 hours after the shot. We're convinced that ferrets should be watched carefully for the rest of the day, not just for 30 minutes. I remember how terrified we were when Jerry was in the midst of a severe reaction and we had trouble finding the phone number of the emergency clinic. Everyone, please find out where there is a ferret-friendly emergency clinic near you *before* you need to use it. While I'm on the subject of emergencies, I also want to tell everyone about another frightening situation. Yesterday, there was a gas leak in our neighborhood. Homes were not officially evacuated, but the gas smell spread for at least 3 blocks, and firemen were checking the area with gas meters. The street around the corner was filled with fire engines and utility trucks. I had come home for lunch when I saw what was happening. I was afraid to go back to work and leave the animals behind, so I quickly outfitted the ferrets' travel cage with bedding, food, water...and ferrets. The animals rode back to work with me and spent the afternoon safe and sound in the car in the college parking lot. Fortunately, during this time of year leaving them in the car is an option. I wanted to share this story with everyone as a reminder to have some sort of evacuation plan in mind. Clare Sebok (hoping next week will be uneventful) [Posted in FML issue 2153]