(CC'd to the FA webmaster and board of directors, I don't have an email for Pat Wright, not sure if one of those goes to him. If not would someone PLEASE forward this to him? TIA) [Moderator's note: Pat Wright's response follows. BIG] In todays FML Melissa Durfee said there was a write up of the CA picnic incident. I went to visit the link at http://www.ferretsanon.com/ferret.htm and was mortified to see that Pat Wright has included the following statement in his remarks on the Ferrets Anonymous page. "My ferrets are not vaccinated against rabies because it is almost impossible for a ferret to get rabies, it is impossible for them to shed the virus and half of the rabid ferrets in the USA (about one a year) acquire rabies by getting the wrong vaccination." FERRRETS CANNOT GET RABIES FROM THE VACCINE. There is NO vaccine in use in the USA, INCLUDING the one used in wildlife rabies programs, which could GIVE your pet the disease. None are modified live virus vaccines. They are all inactivated. (BTW, your vet couldn't get the one for wildlife programs if they wanted, it's tightly restricted for use only in state rabies control programs.) Check the list of fda approved vaccines in the 1999 Rabies Compendium if you want to see for yourself: http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/rabvacc.html If a ferret isn't properly vaccinated, they may not have protection against the disease in case they are exposed to it, but they will NOT "GET" the disease from the vaccine. Secondly, it is not "almost impossible". Some of the material I've read has stated that ferrets appear to have some natural resistance to the disease. I don't have enough data to comment on that. The main reason, IMHO that the incidence of rabies in ferrets is so low compared to dogs and cats is that they are not generally permitted to run loose outside as dogs and cats frequently are. Both the case histories of ferrets I have (see my web page, link is below) were loose outside. Another reason the incidence may be low is that if they tangle with a rabid animal of any significant size the ferret may die of the injuries before developing the rabies disease. Pat, PLEASE remove or clarify that statement from the page before CA F&G links to it! And people, do get your ferrets vaccinated. There is no reason why you cannot claify with the vet ahead of time exaclty which vaccine they will use (it should be Imrab 3 and ONLY Imrab 3.) Further, if you're still concerned, ask to see the actual vaccine vial just prior to vaccination time and either leave or insist on the correct vaccine if it's not the correct one. -Ilena Ayala Rabies Resources for Ferret Owners are at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ilena/rabies.htm [Posted in FML issue 2756]