>Sukie, thank you so much for your rapid response.  I was thinking Timmys
>tonic or the red clover (the one they say shrinks tumors) could help her?
 
Since you don't yet know if she has cardiomyopathy do not use the Timmy's
Tonic till you are sure.  Every meds has things that counter-indicate
it's use and stuff like licorice and ginseng are very counter-indicated
by circulatory disease.
 
I looked in _The Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines_
(1-800-688-2421) and in the _Herb-Drug Interaction Handbook_
(http://www.onlineRD.com/herb) but did not have time to look in _Tyler's
Herbs of Choice_ and _Tyler's Honest Herbal_ (use a search engine for
finding Haworth Press.), and do not have the German Monographs which cost
in the hundreds.  These are among the handful of truly reputable herbal
books because they tell what you NEED to know:
 
1. What uses have had real studies which show that they are valid uses
2. What uses are talked about but not proven
3. What precautions must be taken
4. What medical conditions counter-indicate using that medication
4. What drugs or foods the medicine may interact badly with
5. What dangers are present
etc.
 
Any such text which is reputable will give downsides along with the
positives.  Anything strong enough to heal is strong enough to harm and
must be respected, which is why standard meds have package inserts with
warnings.  Nor does "natural" mean safe.  I have a poisoning book here
with something like 700 or 800 pages.  MOST of the poisons in it are
naturally occurring ones in plants, animals, minerals, fungi, cyanobacter
(which is mislabelled "blue-green algae" since it is actually closer to
bacteria), etc.  Yes, it lists industrial and man-made poisons, but most
poisons and toxins in this world are natural ones.
 
In any animal care ref. make sure that it also tells how long any ferrets
went on given treatments, how assorted diseases were verified (since I
have heard of non-vets "diagnosing" things like insulinoma), how old the
animals lived to be, etc.  Remember that 6 isn't very old, it is about
the equivalent of 60 in a human -- and I am sure that you plan on living
longer than that if you can.  We have one here who is 8 years old.  We
figure that she has perhaps a month to a year left in her.  She is not a
surgical candidate for health reasons (We have had an 8 year old who has
had surgery.) but she has had insulinoma under medical treatment for about
a year, has a right adrenal tumor for which she gets Lupron, and has an
auto-immune disorder that causes rips in her small intestine.  With her
meds she is the fastest ferret here and is very happy.  Most ferrets make
it into their late 7th year to mid 8th year here -- say like being late
70s to 85 for humans.
 
We're not vets, but after 2 decades with them in the family we have
learned a thing or tow and continue to learn.
 
I could not find anything that says the Red Clover shrinks tumors so
I suspect that is possibly more rumor.  In humans is useful for coughs
and as a topical med is useful for some chronic skin conditions.  Since
it appears to be an anticoagulant it might be useful if there is
cardiomyopathy since it might reduce the risk once there is any sign of
clots being formed or thrown if the ferret turns out to be one who can't
stronger anticoagulants, but since it has phytoestrogens it might increase
the symptoms of the adrenal tumor.  BTW, if there is cardiomyopathy then
Co-enzyme-10-Q can be useful in conjunction with standard hard-hitting
heart meds.
 
Herbals are useful: just respect them as much as you do standard meds --
both in terms of appreciation when used right and in terms of caution
when they prove a danger.
[Posted in FML issue 3761]