My veterinarian has transdermal (TD) preparations of metronidazole/aka
flagyl and also prednisolone. Luckily my last sick ferret who needed
both daily had large ears. TD preparations have to be applied usually
with a tip of a surgeons disposable glove. My vet has her staff snip
off the glove fingers (or I just take a few gloves home with me and do
it myself) and I put one on my index finger, squeeze the med from the
syringe and anoint the interior of the ear. That way they don't taste
it. I cannot find any studies in ferrets, but found one using topical
application of a drug on dogs with dental problems
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1447390 - the drug is not measured
in the blood stream so its not obvious how well it gets across the skin
and into the system,

There is a mention of an ongoing study of transdermal meds on one of
the Ferret Health List posts but it seems not to be published yet.

I have found (doing blood glucose here at home) that trans dermal pred
does seem to work on ferrets, but it's necessary to remember to clean
the ears every couple of days because there's a slight residue of the
cream containing the drug which leaves a residue. I still prefer using
something orally - somehow skin absorption seems inexact, but for a
ferret that will not swallow its worth a try and it does seem (at least
for flagyl and pred) to be a good alternative to spitting/vomiting
ferrets.

Meryl

[Posted in FML 7837]