Judy wrote: >I don't see dogs dying all around me from distemper. Two possibilities; one, the disease is not common in your area (but check with your vet, they should have a handle on how common it is in the immediate area). The second possibility is that most dogs in the area are vaccinated against the disease. >Distemper attacks the young, the old and the sick. If your animals fit >that then vaccinate by all means. First time I've read that! OK, I went thru two books (they are not ferret books), here's what they say (both written by vets): "This is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus and secondary bacterial infection. Though it is more common in young dogs (less than a year old) it occurs at any age.)" (Source: _Animal_Health_Technology_ 2nd ed) "Flies and other insects can spread it. <snip> Distemper is not confined to any one season of the year, nore does it exempt any age, sex, breed or color of dog. One possible\ exeption is the pregnant bitch, who in some way is protected by her pregnancy to such an extent that one often hardly realizes she has the disease. If she does contract it toward the end of pregnancy, she may whelp her puppies and, in doing so lose her protection and be as severly affected as any dog. "It has often been suggested that dogs in fine physical condition are able to throw the disease off. This is doubtful. Whole kennels of dogs in top condition have been known to contract Carre distemper." (Source-_The_Complete_Book_of_Dog_Care_) I plan to keep vaccinating mine each and every year unless they develop nasty reactions which can't be controlled by premedicating. IMO, only if the vaccination itself is of more risk than the risk of exposure/death from the disease should the animal not be vaccinated. The vaccination clinics which used to run out of Petco around here won't do old animals because their immune systems may be comprimised (i.e., they may be at higher risk to *get* the disease from even the modified live virus used in a distemper vaccine). (Just to clarify, Petco still does vaccination clinics, but this service has been switched to a different company, I don't know what their policy is.) One last though on distemper. It hits wild animals also; raccoons for example are susceptible to both canine and feline distemper. Any time someone (at least around here) says "sick raccoon"), people think of rabies- that's not necessariy why the animal is ill. -Ilena Ayala [Posted in FML issue 2425]