To Gale Putt:
 
>I recently came back from a wildlife rehabbers council meeting.
>As usual, when we got the updated wildlife dosages list there was a strong
>warning to NEVER use ampicillin on small mammals (including ferrets) but
>rather only use amoxcillin.
 
        That's a new one on me.  Ampicillin has been used in ferrets for years,
before amoxicillin was widely available.  Now, most of the commercial
formulations contain amoxicillin.  Rather than give you some off-the-wall
difference between the two, I'll just say that I don't know of the specific
differences and that I have used them interchangeably.
 
        It is well known, however, that in rabbits, and several small rodents,
penicillins can cause a devastating alteration of the normal intestinal flora
that may lead to death, but ferrets are NOT one of these species.
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 782-2600/2602                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
[Posted in FML issue 1014]