Needles?

[cody n christina]

What needles do ferrets need and how often?
Canine Distemper and Rabies vaccine right?
Once a year?
It has been one year sence I got them so it should be time to get updated on vaccines.

[cody n christina]

their owners said they where up to date when i got them.

[Ellaine]

My vet advised against the rabies vaccine unless you're planning to travel to the USA/out of country. I believe it was due to the bad reactions that they can have due to the vaccination. Those are the two main vaccines, though.

[Tressie]

I had replied to Christina privately.

You are correct Ellaine. Rabies is a rare occurence in domestic animals in our region. However, it is required if traveling to the U.S. because CANADIAN Customs won't allow an animal back into Canada who is not current on Rabies vaccination.

Vaccine reactions in ferrets are higher than other animals. Indeed its only been the last few years that vaccines have been developed that didn't kill ferrets. Still anaphylaxis is an ongoing concern.

Dr. Ruth Heller with support from the American Veterinary Association has been conducting a clinical trial analyzing titer levels in ferrets vaccinated with the Distemper vaccine.

An option is to join the study and have blood samples drawn every year and sent to Cornell university for analysis. For more information on this study:

www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html

As a result of Dr. Heller's study and others, the current thinking is that if the ferret has received its full Distemper vaccine series as a kit (i.e., at 8 weeks by breeder, 10 weeks and 14 weeks) the ferret has lifelong immunity.

If the ferret has not had the kit series - then the recommendation is once every 2-3 years. Most ferrets retain high titer levels for many years indicating that they have immunity.

A recent study (have to dig up the citation) found that a small percentage of ferrets do not show increased titer levels no matter how often they are vaccinated. There's some mixed thinking on what might be going on - one camp thinks it means they will never acquire immunity - the other camp believes they are immune but for some reason titers aren't reflecting that.

Now the ONLY approved Distemper vaccine for ferrets is Purevax Ferret Distemper by Merial.

And the ferret should receive an injection of Benadryl 20-30 minutes BEFORE the vaccination to reduce risk of anaphylaxis.

Tressie