When the person posted before NOTHING was said about cooking the aloe
vera, just giving it and raw aloe vera IS poisonous to members of
Carnivora.
See this expert reference:
> http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/poison-control/Plants/aloe.aspx
Whether cooking alters the saponins in aloe vera, I don't know. It does
for some safer types of saponins in some food items, and streaming or
hot soaking is used for saponins on other foods items, but what works
and how well varies among those versions.
Aloe vera veterinary shampoos that are not ingested can be soothing and
safely used, but ingestion is a totally different matter, certainly for
the raw version.
Personally, I would not risk it, cooked or raw for ingestion at this
stage. It makes more sense if a band-aid approach is to be used to
figure out what component is controlling inflammation and provide it
in a safer medium.
BTW, one resource says that aloe vera contains salicylic acid. I have
no idea if it actually does though some plants including some food ones
do in various levels, but if so and if the ferret may actually needs
an aspirin chemical relative to control inflammation then it probably
makes sense to figure out WHY the ferret bloats and tackle the root of
the problem rather than using a band-aid approach.
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)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)
[Posted in FML 7251]
