Mary L. Conley wrote:
>I have not seen tears, but I have seen depression and grief.  I always
>use a natural (or flower) essence called Star of Bethlehem.  You can get
>the essence from the Flower Essence Society at www.floweressence.com.
>There you can read about essences, how they are made, and their wonderful
>safety factor.  This is one of the best things you can do for your
>fuzzies.  It is safe and they seem to begin recovering almost
>immediately.
 
(I'm not a big fan of herbs, but I won't get into that.  I just wanted
to be up-front with my *opinion.*  I understand that many people have a
powerful belief in herbal remedies and, as long as it doesn't harm an
animal, then that's their business.  That said ...)
 
I'm curious as to why you would try to "medicate" an animal before
allowing the natural grief process to run its course (unless I
misunderstood your post).  I'm all for medicating when it's called for
(I'm on medication for depression myself, so I understand the importance
of having that option available).  I'm just not sure I agree with going
for a medicinal remedy in an animal before all the non-medicinal remedies
have been exhausted.  Grief is a natural process, and I don't believe it
serves anyone (animal or human) to cut it short.
 
I also don't believe that medicating depression is always the answer.
There are instances where a ferret is depressed because of a situation
(for example, too little playtime or stress from the environment) that
requires a change in that situation, not medication to abate the reaction
to that situation.  I would hope that ferret parents would assess the
situation and try to determine what is causing the depression in the
ferret before resorting to medication.  Also, depression can be a symptom
of a physical illness, and I would hope that a veterinarian would be
consulted before resorting to an herbal medication for depression.
 
Also -- I didn't see anything on that web site about giving flower
essences to animals -- maybe I missed it?  I'm not trying to be a pest --
I'm just curious if these are safe for animals.  There are plenty of
things that are safe for humans that are not safe for pets (chocolate is
deadly to dogs, for example, and Tylenol is deadly to ferrets, but
neither kills people, unless of course, they're allergic).
 
Thanks for any info you can provide.
 
--Mary & the Fuzzies
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mary R. Shefferman, Editor, Modern Ferret Magazine
Trixie, Koosh, & Gabby, The Modern Ferrets
Read my blog! http://www.modernferretblog.com/mary
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[Posted in FML issue 4161]