There are things for which I do not use compounding pharmacies, for
example preferring a generic version of Pediapred which the local A&P
Pharmacy a half hour walk away carries because the ferrets who used to
get it preferred that one and it certainly worked well, but there are
definitely things for which we DO prefer compounding pharmacies. There
are still other meds we prefer to get from our vets. All three are good
places to use for the right reasons at different times.

There is nothing wrong with meds being either dissolved or suspended
in liquid unless a person can not shake a bottle well for the latter
or can not see the bottle well enough. I am not sure why anyone would
otherwise find that worrisome.

DO realize that the types of flavors available from compounding
pharmacies which are used to performing that work for animals has a
wide range.

TIP on a suspended medication for regular pharmacies and veterinary
hospital pharmacies: Not all regular pharmacies and not all techs
realize that liquid Carafate needs to be incredibly well shaken before
measured out. Then, of course, at home it also needs to be shaken well.
If it is not extremely cloudy when shaken then there is little
medication in there and the person who measured it out did not put in
the time to shake the large bottle really well so take it back to the
pharmacy and have them try again or you could wind up with too little
med in the fluid to do any good. BTW, our ferrets historically seem to
mind properly mixed Carafate less than the more dilute stuff and are
certainly helped more by getting the right dosage.

There IS a lot wrong with splitting pills at home. Even when a
medication is supposed to be able to be split and even when experts
do so using a pill splitter a study this year found quite a bit of
variation in the dose results:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/w-tsi010511.php

More serious is that not all pills are supposed to be split. If
there is not a cutting mark on the pill then that means that the
manufacturing process for that med does not include a lot of mixing.
Cutting such pills can result in differences so extreme that there can
be almost no medication with one dose and then an overdose with the
next one. Those meds need to be finely ground, very, very well mixed,
and then each dose carefully measured. Not all medications can result
in dangerous results when an UNscored pill is split but some can wind
up with fatal consequences.

Not all meds can be exposed to light, heat, or humidity. Some can not
be exposed cold (including refrigeration). Some can not be given with
certain things, for example, some will be destroyed by being in water
or exposed to saliva, while some others should not be given with oil,
some should not be given with foods high in certain mineral, etc.
Basically, what works for one med can NOT be assumed to be safe for
another med. Medications vary widely. Hey, that is why advanced
schooling is needed to know how to become a pharmacist.

To find compounding pharmacies for your ferrets just go to the
compounding pharmacies list in
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/files/
and click it open. Pam Sessoms, who is one of the FHL moderators and
owners, and the FHL membership have done such a great job on this
list that I know of people who use and recommend the list for finding
pharmacies for children, too.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding -- or I guess more limited
knowledge -- of the very many specialized tasks a compounding pharmacy
does and the specialized knowledge and techniques involved. Here is an
excellent article from 2007 on the specialized accreditation for
compounding pharmacies and more:
http://newsblaze.com/story/2007051415130100001.sp/topstory.html

Finding a compounding pharmacy in the U.S. which has met those rigorous
standards or checking to make sure that one really has done so:
http://www.pcab.info/find-a-pharmacy.shtml

There is a bit more info, too, in this old post:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL2598

Much more has been already addressed about medication in the FML and
the FHL. The Archive URLs for both are in my sig lines. Also, the FML
Archive URL can be found in the header of each day's FML, and the FHL
Archive URL or link is available in multiple places in the FHL
including at least twice on the FHL homepage.

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.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://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)

[Moderator's note: And now, for some potentially disastrous news about
veterinary compounding:]
<http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_17e5afde-36de-11e0-af10-001cc4c002e0.html>

[Posted in FML 6973]