# Raccoons and Distemper Vaccine



## NinaDee (Apr 14, 2010)

So until last week, I was convinced that distemper vaccine's can be deadly to the raccoon's therefore not worth the risk. And imagine my surprise when after a check-up with my new vet this 'fact' was proven wrong.

Apprently only the distemper vaccine that they use in the US carries this risk (to the raccoons and ferrets apparently) but the UK version is completely safe. BTW my vet specializes in exotic mammals so he knows what he's talking about. And Indy (my pet raccoon) got vaccinated last week and is feeling great  

So to all the raccoon owners, please get your 'coonies vaccinated. It only cost me £21 for the vaccine as well.


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## africa (Sep 12, 2008)

NinaDee said:


> So until last week, I was convinced that distemper vaccine's can be deadly to the raccoon's therefore not worth the risk. And imagine my surprise when after a check-up with my new vet this 'fact' was proven wrong.
> 
> Apprently only the distemper vaccine that they use in the US carries this risk (to the raccoons and ferrets apparently) but the UK version is completely safe. BTW my vet specializes in exotic mammals so he knows what he's talking about. And Indy (my pet raccoon) got vaccinated last week and is feeling great
> 
> So to all the raccoon owners, please get your 'coonies vaccinated. It only cost me £21 for the vaccine as well.


We came to the conclusion that the vaccine in the UK which ids different to the one in the US would not have been trialled on raccoons so decided not to have ours vaccinated, our vet told us that there is no distemper in this area and that she would let us know if there was.


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

what does this vaccine immunise them from?


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## carlycharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

Like Sallie, I consulted with my exotic vets (and in fact, many of the raccoon owners did a LOT of communicating over this matter last year) who in turn contacted various people about this, including Zoos, USA vets & the companies who make the inoculations. The conclusion was that the vaccines used in the UK had not been tested on Raccoons so there was no way of knowing if it would have any effective use or not and that it could even be bad for them..............

As for the distemper one in particular - as they can still get distemper after having the vaccine and the one used is for dogs, there is no way of knowing if it would even be of any use......so my vet felt it was just a waste of money unless I was going to be taking the raccoon out into places where lots of feral dogs could be (or areas of high risk).


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## Annihilation (Nov 2, 2009)

Buffy was chipped last week and going for vacc in half hour! we have always been told conflicting info too, will certainly feel more confident out with her when done. x


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