Joos wrote:
>I ve heard of a treatment to let the body get accustomed to the stuff
>you re allergic to, given as drops in your mouth. If i know more about
>that, i will report it here.

Those are Sublingual Immunotherapy, also known as S.L.I.T.; I hadn't
heard that it was available for ferret allergies though it certainly
could be.

They work the same way immunotherapy with shots works except that they
have a dramatically lower chance of an anaphylactic reaction, so for
those of us who have that complication (in my case delayed by as long
as 24 hours with the shots which was why the shots had to stop) they
provide a better alternative. From my own experience they can be very
effective (though I have different allergies than yours). Because of
repeated anaphylactic reactions I was never able to build to a high
enough dose of immunotherapy with shots to stop needing multiple meds,
but now that has changed a lot for the better. Except during two very
bad allergy seasons I now only need my Singulair (an asthma
preventative) and occasionally an asthma inhaler. During my own bad
pollen seasons I also use two prescription antihistamines (a pill and
a spray), and an eye allergy med, some years in really bad seasons
other meds are needed. So, we are very happy about the medications
that can be skipped now for most of the year.

The drops which are in glycerin are placed under the tongue and held
there for at least 20 seconds. Then just swallow.

As with the shots there are months when the dose is built up, then a
stable level is given for a few years. Afterward the protection seems
to last for as long as 7 years in one children's study, but more study
is on-going.

As with shot therapy it may be inappropriate for certain severe
allergens, or for those who have certain types of severe reactions, for
instance, I have never heard of any safe route for immuno-therapy for
those who get Stevens-Johnson (toxic dermal necrosis) when they are
immune-mediated reactions (The syndrome can alternatively -- and more
commonly it appears -- be caused by some infections.), but of course I
certainly am not a professional. That is just something I am aware of,
because it appears in our family as do anaphylactic reactions.

Some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublingual_immunotherapy

Both
http://www.allerdrops.com/resource_center/articles.html
and
<http://www.allergychoices.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi?siteid=1000162&statusFlag=goGenie&geniesite=59>
have links to articles

In the U.S. most insurances don't cover it yet but view it as "under
investigation" despite long and successful use in Europe and in some
studies in the U.S. but it can be purchased by patients themselves and
the total cost turned out to be about the same as the co-pay for in-
office immunotherapy shots when compared to the plan we had at the time
that I switched over, so we actually save on gasoline, given that we
are avoiding two hours of travel each month.

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/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5838]