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Post by bigsis7 on Aug 2, 2008 17:01:00 GMT -5
What are the health benifits? I am very curious about it. Would save money, but what happens if your ferret get distemper? Why the risk? My state requires rabies vaccines, but I don't think they require distemper.....I really just want to find out if it's healthier. Do you replace it with something? Once again I'm just curious and if the questions sound rude I'm not trying to be. Just considering it if it's healthier.
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Post by whipple on Aug 2, 2008 17:12:09 GMT -5
I am looking into not vaxxing my daughter, possibly selective vaccines. So I feel it is odd getting my pets vaxxed when I dont vax my kids. For me its a matter of putting chemicals into my ferts. I would vax if I were taking them to a function or large gathering. Or if the laws require it. I am still looking into that. I also still have to check out titers. I have had so muchon my plate lately, I haven't got to it yet.
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Post by tss on Aug 2, 2008 18:48:00 GMT -5
Rabies vaccines aren't requiered for ferrets here so I won't get them(For FERRETS they ane NOT required in Virginia!!), I won't let some people hold them. They won't get rabies since there is NO chance they will have contact with a rabid animal. For distemper (and rabies) there are titers to check the antibody levels that the animal has, I would suggest the distemper titers since they do come into contact with other animals.
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Aug 2, 2008 23:35:24 GMT -5
Three of my ferrets get the full vaccine line up only because they go to my daughters school to different classes for a show and tell type thing. So to make it safe for the kids and the ferret they get all the vaccines.
4 of the other 7 will get rabies vaccines every 3-4 years after talking to my vet.
the other 3 do not get any as they are old and in poor health that i do not want to do anything to endanger them, PA where i live requires rabies but since they do not really leave the house i am not worried about it.
My kids, dogs and cats all got only certain vaccines i think that some are good but not all are needed.
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Post by Jaycee on Aug 3, 2008 9:46:24 GMT -5
Not all of mine are UTD on shots and vaccines, but for the same reasons. I am afraid of the reactions, and frankly, mine don't go outside, and don't come in contact with strange animals. Odds of mine becoming rabid and frothing at the mouth are slim to none. Now, if I was to travel with them or go to shows I would keep them UTD for my personal saftey and theirs.
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Post by Heather on Aug 3, 2008 13:29:15 GMT -5
I don't vaccinate anything, not my skin kid, not my ferrets, not my cats and I paid big money for a puppy who has parental history of raw feeding, non-vaccine. Because of vaccines, I lost a ferret, my little Lady Pandora. Because of rabies vaccines, I had a cat go through a complete personality change, my friend's dogs (2 of them, different breeds) have thyroid problems. Because of vaccinations, my heart dog (now playing healthy at rainbow bridge) suffered a complete immune system breakdown. The final straw(should have been the first but it took awhile to figure it out)my son, suffers a form of autism because of his vaccinations. I will titer, but I will not likely vaccinate. If the vaccine itself wasn't deadly enough, what it's stored in you would never handle much less inject into a loved one. It's just my opinion of course, but it's my stand. ciao
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Post by bigsis7 on Aug 3, 2008 18:52:50 GMT -5
Thank you all for your comments. I don't think I will get Chewie vaccinated just because his medical history is unknown to me. Plus he's 3 years old and has adrenal. I still have to research more about it though. With Oliver he's a very healthy ferret. I am scared of over vaccinating him though since he's so tiny (about a pound and a half). He's been vaccinated before with no problems, but this is his first time getting vaccinated so you never know. I do have another question though, do you take your ferret to the vet at all? Like to get exams? Also what happens if your ferret becomes ill and you take it to the vet. Does the vet ask about vaccines? If so what do they say when you tell them you don't vaccinate? Thanks!
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Post by Jaycee on Aug 3, 2008 19:30:55 GMT -5
Vets are like doctors for us. They can recommend, but they can't force anything on you. They may give you the "guilt trip" if you choose not to, but stand your ground if that is what you decide to do!
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Post by Heather on Aug 3, 2008 23:40:41 GMT -5
All my furbabies are vet checked, all get surgeries if they need them. Like Jaycee said, they're like doctors, they can recommend but they can't force you. The only vaccine that can be forced on you is the rabies vaccine (depending on where you are). Even then the vaccine box reads...animal must be free from illness. A ferret with adrenal disease is ill. You do not give a sick animal a vaccine. A responsible vet will give you a waver. Here is something else to consider and I quote: "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirement for annual revaccination. immunity to viruses persist for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years, allowing an animal to develop a protective anamnestic (secondary) as a result of interference by existing antibody....the practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considred of questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical examination or is required by law (certain states require annual revaccination for rabies)" The quote is from the section on dog and cat vaccinations; the authors are Tom Phillips DVM (Scripps Institute) and Ron Schultz, Ph.D (University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Vetenary Medicine) If you want a fantastic book on Homeopathic Care for small animals (and he covers a couple of chapters on vaccinations) please pick up "Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs. Small Doses for Small Animals" by Don Hamilton DVM. No, it's not about ferrets but it will offer a huge insight into the world of homeopathy for small animal care which can be easily applied to our furbabies. ciao
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Post by bigsis7 on Aug 4, 2008 9:10:24 GMT -5
Ok thank you guys!!
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Aug 4, 2008 10:42:05 GMT -5
I take my guys in to the vet for yearly check ups
My vet reminds me about the rabies vac each time and i look at him smile and say no thank you
but my vet is really good when it comes to not pushing unless its something that he thinks needs to be done .
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Post by aleronferrets on Aug 4, 2008 11:31:08 GMT -5
From an article about no vaccines: "But there is another way of looking at all of this, one that not everyone is ready for, or interested in. Some of us actually question the very act of immunization. We question the effect of injecting a disease into our dogs, thus putting a virus directly into the bloodstream that normally enters only through the mouth, respiratory system, etc., thus bypassing the entire primary immune response that occurs in the mucous membranes. We question putting cells of other animals into our dogs - because modified live virus vaccines are made from viruses grown in the cells of another species, to "inactivate" the vaccine so it cannot cause disease in canines anymore; that's what "modified live" means. We worry about research that shows that vaccinated dogs have antibodies against THEIR OWN CELLS, while a control group of unvaccinated dogs does not. (Larry T. Glickman, DVM, "Weighing the Risks and Benefits of Vaccination," Advances in Veterinary Medicine, Vol. 41, 2001) We worry about the effect on the "vital force," or life energy, of an animal, to inject them with a disease that has been changed and modified so it cannot cause symptoms; symptoms are, after all, the way a body "discharges" the disruptive forces of a disease in the first place. Vomiting and diarrhea and coughing and sneezing and running noses and increased urination and rashes and the sweat of a fever, all these discharges serve to move the disease energy out of the body. What does that life energy do with a virus that sets up housekeeping in its cells but causes no acute symptoms? It does what it must do, what it has been given no other choice but to do: Those suppressed acute symptoms become chronic disease. And by its nature, chronic disease is deeper and more serious than acute disease (although yes, acute disease can kill you). So there is an argument to be made, although not everyone will be willing or ready to hear it, and many will disagree violently with it, that immunizing your puppy against parvo or distemper or other diseases, no matter how wisely and moderately and scientifically you do it, isn't such a good thing after all. However, I have no studies and statistics and web links to give you that will "prove" that. I cannot prove it. I just know it. Ultimately we each make up our own minds on this issue. I try to give people who are questioning vaccination some information they might find useful in designing a rational and safer vaccine program, instead of the hodgepodge of superstition and illogic that passes for "vaccine recommendations" in so many veterinary offices and with so many breeders. But that doesn't mean I am recommending vaccinations or telling you what I think you should do. Everyone has to decide for himself or herself, just as I have. ... Juliette de Bairacli Levy, founder of Natural Rearing, wrote that after three generations of raw-feeding and not vaccinating, her dogs never again knew any kind of disease, and after five generations they knew "unbroken good health." Very few of us, certainly not me, can claim to have achieved that. Nonetheless, I do have confidence that my dogs will handle most challenges easily, and if they do get sick with an infectious disease, that it will be fairly easily treated with homeopathy. I don't, though, take that risk lightly. I accept it and prepare for it. " www.caberfeidh.com/VaxNone.htm
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Post by Heather on Aug 4, 2008 14:12:34 GMT -5
That is a fantastic article and I've directed people to it before. She's an amazing lady and her dogs are a pricture of health. I was directed to the article more than a few years ago and then reread it when I was having a debate with myself about dealing with the new parvo strains ciao
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Post by aleronferrets on Aug 4, 2008 17:38:19 GMT -5
That is a fantastic article and I've directed people to it before. She's an amazing lady and her dogs are a pricture of health. I was directed to the article more than a few years ago and then reread it when I was having a debate with myself about dealing with the new parvo strains ciao Have you read her article about the "new" parvo strain? www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/02/08/parvo/Her email list is great too! I do vaccinate my puppies for parvo because it is very widespread in my area. I had a litter with parvo last year and while all but one lived (one never even developed it) it was rough for me and them. They had never left my home/yard and developed it at 6 week sold - too young to be vaxed. Parvaid IMO made a big difference. I have even had people, including a vet challenge whether the puppies actually had parvo because they got over it "too easily". I don't know if I consider a week of intensive home care followed by immune system crisises (demodex in one and two with abcesses) easily though... This year we went to extreme measures until the puppies were 8 weeks old - bleaching shoes, changing clothes and scrubbing from hands to shoulders when we got home. I wish I could feel comfortable with no vaccines for the dogs but with where I currently live, I just can't.
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Post by Heather on Aug 4, 2008 18:22:07 GMT -5
I've used parvaid and vibactra on the ferrets. It's fanatastic stuff. ciao
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