How Likely is Your Ferret to Contract Rabies?

How likely is it that your ferret will contract rabies? How is the rabies virus transferred to another animal or human? What rabies vaccinations exist for ferrets? How often should a ferret have a rabies vaccination? What should you do if your ferret bites someone? How is a ferret tested to see if it has rabies? If your ferret has been bitten by an unknown animal or has bitten someone, how long must it be quarantined? How many ferrets have been found to be infected with rabies? These are all questions that are important to ferret owners or to anyone who has been bitten by a ferret.

Fortunately, there has never been a case where a human or animal has been infected with rabies by a domesticated ferret. In fact, since 1958, there have been only 14 ferrets with confirmed rabies through the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) and most of those are believed to have occurred because the ferret was vaccinated with a live vaccine not approved for ferrets. The only approved vaccine for ferrets is Imrab3, which is a killed virus that cannot cause rabies.

Compare this to the number of dogs (1,996 between 1980 and 1992) and cats (2,537 between 1980 and 1992). Bats, raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, foxes, cats, and dogs represent 95% of all rabies cases in the United States. Cats have a higher incidence of rabies even over dogs because most are not vaccinated; they often are outside and can contact potentially rabid animals. Rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, and other small animals seldom get rabies. Fish, reptiles, and birds are not known to carry the rabies virus.

Studies have shown that ferrets may have an inborn resistance to rabies. They do not "carry" the disease and the rabies virus can only be transferred by a bite that breaks or punctures the skin and only if the ferret has been exposed to rabies. The saliva of an infected animal would have to have the rabies virus present and injected into the open wound. Studies have shown that ferrets are more likely to die from the attack itself and not from rabies long before any symptoms would develop.