Hello All,
 
Due to email difficulties and changes, I have missed some of this thread
so I am coming in late.  But I want to say a couple of things here.
 
Bob said:
>Simply implying herbals are safe in humans so they should be safe in
>ferrets ignores established scientific facts.  If you don't believe it,
>then feed your ferret an Advil or Tylanol!  There are scores of compounds
>shown effective and safe in many species that are deadly or dangerous
>to carnivores in general, and ferrets in particular.  As I said before,
>trying out untested herbal medicines (oops, I mean remedies) on ferrets
>is nothing more than unsanctioned animal testing, and can possibly
>border on animal abuse.
 
No one can say this enough!  Be sure to understand anything you give your
ferrets.  I lost one of my first ferrets to Advil.  She stole a bottle
and licked off the coating of several.  It was enough to kill her.  Many
drugs are metabolized much differently in the liver of animals than in
humans, they have a longer life because they are not cleared as quickly.
 
You have to be careful with any drug natural or man-made.  Chemicals is
chemicals folks.
 
Now Mary said:
 
>It merely is such a mistake that herbs are drugs.  While we do recognize
>that drugs can come from herbs, the pharmacy of it is so different.
 
Oxford says this of the word drug:
 
- noun 1medicament, medication, medicine, esp. archaic physic, remedy,
treatment.
 
White Willow bark is an analgesic.  Chemists figured out how to make the
compound in the lab and gave us aspirin.  However, White Willow bark can
kill you also.  It is not benign.
 
I think there are a lot of excellent herbals out there to help us and
that will make a nice compliment to traditional Western medicine.
However, ephedra isn't one of them.  I don't know what all has been said
about this one, but I personally hope they do get this one off the
shelves.  They already use ephedrine in many sinus drugs and I think that
is too risky also.  But then I am particularly shy about this drug
because it has a tendency to give me tachycardia and palpitations.  And
right now I am suffering because I have really bad allergies to something
and am really sick from it.  But there aren't a lot things for me to do.
 
Everyone has to be careful with drugs.  Herbs can be drugs.  You have
to be careful with yourself and even more careful with your ferrets.
Animals can't make informed decisions like we can, they don't decide to
take a risk, we decide for them.  I just visited a new doctor (whom I
won't be going back to) who gave me Tylenol #1 for my extreme back pain.
I haven't gotten this filled because Tylenol really stays in the system
and I don't want to load myself up with it.  There are better things that
I can use and I will find another doctor who is more concerned.  We have
to take the same care with our vets and our ferrets.
 
If Bill would be so kind as to send me the last 4-5 issues so I can catch
up and if it turns cold and rains like it is supposed to, I may be able
to stop babbling.  Ok so I really can't.  [ok, issues sent]
 
Blessings,
Maggie
[Posted in FML issue 3933]