I think a big problem is that "juices" or herbal liquids are not very
well regulated. One person's juice may be made in Hong Kong, another
person's juice may be made in Massachusetts. One has no idea what is
exactly in the juice. It could have worked on your ferret ; it may
not work on another ferret. It would have ben nice to know what was
originally wrong with the ferret.
I'm assuming the veterinarian who approved it has asked colleagues
about this and maybe not heard of anything bad. I'm always kind of
skeptical (as a retired pharmacist) of "herbal" meds -- even though
that's the way pharmacy started -- with herbs. Not sure I want to go
back to those "good ole days". So I looked online and did not find
anything directly, so went to PubMed (as Sukie did) for info on Aloe
juice and ferrets. Nothing re ferrets and Aloe/ Aloe juice.
I ended up looking at Aloe vera in rats, toxicity, effects, etc. There
are a few benefits to Aloe - some instances where it prevented tumor
growth in rats (but the tumors were artificially induced):
Corsi MM, Bertelli AA, Gaja G, Fulgenzi A, Ferrero ME.
The therapeutic potential of Aloe Vera in tumor-bearing rats.
Int J Tissue React.1998;20(4):115-8. PubMed PMID: 10093794.
It also protects rats (I love white ratties - if I didn't have ferrets
I'd have pet rats again) from the effects of Arsenic poisoning:
Protective value of Aloe vera against some toxic effects of arsenic
in rats.
[Moderator's note: Many of the links given below take you to a list of
studies by the particular author. Further searching is needed to find
the actual study. The links probably were originally meant as a large
combined search but it didn't come through that way in e-mail. BIG]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Gupta%20R%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Gupta R,
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Flora%20SJ%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Flora SJ.
Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Defence Research and
Development Establishment, Jhansi Road, Gwalior 474-002, India.
There was also benefit to rats with diabetes given aloe vera:
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11268118>
Effect of Aloe vera leaves on blood glucose level in type I and
type II diabetic rat models.
(Improved their health and reduced the diabetes)
However I also found these 2 cases where Aloe Vera was taken by
humans -- not with such good results:
1. 2010 Mar;25 (3):492-5. Epub 2010 Feb 17.
Aloe-induced toxic hepatitis.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Yang%20HN%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Yang HN
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Kim%20DJ%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Kim DJ
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Kim%20YM%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Kim YM
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Kim%20BH%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Kim BH
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Sohn%20KM%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Sohn KM
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Choi%20MJ%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Choi MJ
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Choi%20YH%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Choi YH
Source: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine,
Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea.
"Phytomedicine describes aloe as a herb which has anti-inflammatory,
anti-proliferative, anti-aging effects. In recent years several cases
of aloe-induced hepatotoxicity were reported. But its pharmacokinetics
and toxicity are poorly described in the literature. Here we report
three cases with aloe-induced toxic hepatitis. They (5 people) had
taken aloe preparation for months. Their clinical manifestation,
laboratory findings and histologic findings met diagnostic criteria
(RUCAM scale) of toxic hepatitis. Upon discontinuation of the oral
aloe preparations, liver enzymes returned to normal level. Aloe should
be considered as a causative agent in hepatotoxicity."
2. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17726067>
Ann Pharmacother. 2007 Oct;41(10):1740-3. Epub 2007 Aug 28.
Oral aloe vera-induced hepatitis.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Bottenberg%20MM%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Bottenberg MM
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Wall%20GC%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Wall GC
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Harvey%20RL%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Harvey RL
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Habib%20S%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Habib S.
Source:Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Des Moines, IA, USA.
[log in to unmask]
Abstract:
Objective: To report a case of possible oral aloe vera-induced
hepatitis.
Case Summary:
A 73-year-old female was admitted to the hospital for acute hepatitis.
Extensive laboratory testing did not reveal the cause of the patient's
disease. She was asked multiple times whether she was taking any home
medications, which she initially denied. It was only after an extensive
medication history done by a clinical pharmacist that the patient
admitted to using oral aloe vera capsules for constipation. Upon
discontinuation of the oral aloe vera, liver markers of hepatotoxicity
returned to normal levels.
There is one good effect mentioned in the PuMed search - a Chinese
study "Preliminary evaluation: the effects of Aloe ferox Aloe
arborescens Miller on wound healing.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Jia%20Y%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Jia Y
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Zhao%20G%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Zhao G
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Jia%20J%22%5BAuthor%5D>
Jia J.
Source
RunHua Functional Chemical Research Institution, Beijing 100083, China.
[log in to unmask]
They did seem to indicate that use of aloe vera juice on the skin might
convey benefits with wound healing.
I think the problem is that health food products are not monitored
the way that human meds are, so it could be that there is some other
component in your "juice" (maybe something that makes the ferret pee
more and lose fluid?). However who knows what is actually in the
product -- plant and fruit "juices" do not have to be regulated like
pharmaceuticals. There is no way to know how the original product has
been altered by extraction, or what kind of aloe has been used. That's
the difficulty with herbal meds made (usually oversea).
One one site
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17613130>
there is a "Final report on the safety assessment of...various aloe
extracts..." and gives the good and bad effects If anyone else is
thinking of using using aloe extracts give that article a read first.
Finally, (hindsight is always 20/20!) I'd rather have gotten a blood
panel done when the ferret originally got the problem, that way you
could have found out what the cause was. When you stopped the aloe
treatment and she bloated up, you could also have asked the vet for
a blood panel and maybe had another chance to find what the original
problem was.
Meryl
[Posted in FML 7252]
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