Hi everyone,
I want to tell you how children's benadryl has helped my Zena.  This year
the experts say that everyone's allergies are worse due to the effects of El
Nino.  Boy, some of my relatives can attest to the truth that allergies are
definitely worse this year.  Zena, who is 2 3/4 yrs. old, has always been
the one most sensitive to allergens, and this year seems to be struggling
with a persistent allergic reaction to ---whatever!  A few weeks ago I began
to notice that her eyes were watering, like little tears.  Convinced she was
not crying, but having allergy symptoms instead, I gave her a dose (.30ml)
of Children's Benadryl.  Her eyes got better and I forgot it for a while.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that her eyes were watery again and
they had watered so much that one eye was a bit red around the top of her
eyelid, and it also was a bit swollen.  Since she would probably not like to
have "scratch" tests done to determine what is causing her problems, and
perhaps the allergy specialist would hesitate to do them anyway, I am
grateful for the help she is getting from Children's Benadryl medicine.  I
began giving her the children's benadryl at .30ml dose twice a day, divided
by 12 hours.  Her eyes dried up completely and the redness and swelling went
away as well.  I stopped giving it to her about 3 days ago and today I
noticed that one eye was quite watery again.  I will try using just one dose
a day to see if that controls her symptoms, but if not, I will go back to
the two dose a day regime for a while.  Hopefully she, and all you people
and your ferrets will get through this more difficult allergy season soon.
For your ferrets who have watery eyes or other true allergy symptoms, I can
reccommend limited use of Children's Benadryl.  I use the cherry flavor and
have found that generic brands work as well as the brand name med.  My
excellent ferret skilled veterinarian has ok's use of this medicine for
allergic reactions and the dosage I use has been safe for all my ferrets.  I
also give the same amount of children's benadry to each of my ferrets 45
minutes before they recieve a distemper or rabies vaccination.  I have also
given it to them for stuffy noses, BUT I always make sure to find out
whether they are ill as well by having my vet see them too.  He and I are
concerned that the children's benadryl could "mask" the symptoms of an
illness.  An ill ferret needs antibiotic or other treatments and your ferret
skilled vet will know what to give.  Ferrets dehydrate and go down quickly
when ill and must be monitored closely when on any med or if they are
suspected to be ill.  When we had to spray for fleas about 2 years ago, all
of our ferrets had allergic reactions in varrying degrees from itchy skin
and chewing their feet to as severe as a seizure (yep, Zena).  Benadryl was
wonderful to help get them through the couple of weeks they suffered from
the affects of the pesticide.  By the way, most all pesticides are extremely
toxic to ferrets.  If it is absolutely, totally necessary to exterminate or
spray any pesticide, there are many precautionary things you can do to help
minimize the harm that could come to your ferrets.  I am sure I cannot
remember all of them so I will only mention the ones that come to mind.  Do
net searches and FML inquiries to find out all that you need to know before
you do any treating.  If exterminating can be avoided some way, it should
be.  Of course, take all ferrets and othere pets out of the home which will
be treated and leave them somewhere safe for as long as possible, but at a
minimum for a full day.  Air the house out and wash the carpets with a
ferret safe product like vinegar (1/4th cup to a gallon of water).  Some
people say a product called NOW, bought at Sam's warehouse store is safe for
ferrets when used to clean carpets.  In the pesticide, products with
Pyrethrins are said to be safer for use in homes with ferrets.  Read labels.
The product I used had pyrethrins.  It was used by a friend with many many
ferrets and no one had problems or reactions.  So it is safer.  I should
have washed our carpets sooner and that would have lessened the effect of
the poisons.  I did not know it at the time.  I think I could have washed
the carpets almost right away and I waited a couple of weeks.  So I learned
the hard way there.  ANyway, the children's benadryl helped tremendously
with the allergic reaction symptoms.  I gave them .30-.35ml(bigger ferrets
got .35ml) and repeated the dose in 8, 10, or 12 hours, depending on the
need of the specific ferret.  For limited, short term use, Children's
Benadryl is a wonderful medicine to have on hand.  Encourage fluids when
your ferrets are on any medicine including children's benadryl.  Ask your
ferret literate veterinarian.
 
Jan
[Posted in FML issue 2324]