Distemper Vaccines for Your Pet Ferret

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Fran Friedman and I'm with Morning Star Animal Sanctuary and I would like to talk about distemper vaccine on behalf of expertvillage.com. First of all there have been several bad reactions to distemper vaccine. There are very few that are for ferrets. Make sure that your vet understands that they are not to get a canine distemper shot. If your vet doesn't have it they may have to order it. If they are having some bad reactions, so they ask that you prepare. Sometimes people will actually give their ferrets maybe .1 cc of a little bit of children's Benadrayl before vaccinations but I would consult your vet before doing so and they might recommend that. If your ferret has had a bad reaction, definitely I think your vet would probably concur that it would have the Benadryl before the shot. Distemper must be given yearly, the same as rabies and that would keep them safe. They are prone to distemper so it is very important that they have the vaccinations. Also if you have your ferret vaccinated, do not take your ferret out for the day. Have it vaccinated, bring it home and let him rest. Make sure that you can stay home for the day. Usually bad reactions happen within hours of the vaccine. It is extremely important up to a month of reactions but most cases are within an hour. Look for bleeding of the nose, just a real disoriented ferret and watch your ferret for that day. Make sure that you don't have your ferret vaccinated, bring him home and go back to work. You will want to watch him and make sure that he is okay. Most of the time is fine but you just want to be sure. "