I am awaiting some more info but apparently someone out there got very
confused and put in a website the TOTALLY FALSE "information" that
Melatek's melatonin implants are made from mink. Obviously, they are
NOT.
What several of us who have discussed this rumor suspect is that the
person who wrote that had read about "mink melatonin implants" and
thought that meant they were made from mink, but mink melatonin
implants are FOR mink, not from mink!
Years ago before melatonin implants appeared for the pet community
there were originally melatonin implants that were NOT made to as high
standards as the implants for pets. Those original implants were used
in mink and in ferrets (called fitch in the fur industry) to make sure
that no matter what time of year it was they would have lush coats.
THOSE are what mink melatonin implants are: FOR mink, NOT FROM mink.
These days much of the natural melatonin being sold in the U.S. is of
plant origin, BTW. Melatonin is a very ancient hormone found in many
forms of life.
The FHL moderators already had someone asking about this very false and
ugly rumor. I doubt the person who began it was trying to be nasty.
Instead, several of us think that the person who began it simply did
not read well and did not learn enough, leading to not understand what
"mink implant" means and a strange assumption being made and then
passed to others.
So, once again it is time to stop a false rumor it its tracks.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
[Posted in FML 6891]
