I'm responding to someone's questions about whether these folk treatments
work for various things.  I suspect the original source for these was one
of the multitude of home-remedy books, and these are good questions.  The
answer to whether these really work is "yes and no."
 
Corn Oil for ear mites: Anything oil-based applied in the ear canal will
eventually kill ear mites.  However, I can guarantee it won't happen in
one dose.  It has to be repeated daily for three weeks, as 21 days is
the mite life cycle and corn oil won't kill the eggs until they hatch
out into adults.  Considering that Revolution or Acaraxx WILL kill them
in one dose, I don't see much point in telling someone to fight with an
animal daily for 21 days unless they just have nothing better to do with
their time.
 
Vaseline for hairballs: Yes, this works.  Any non-absorbable lubricant
will help pass hairballs.  Just don't use any kind of cooking oil; it's
absorbed by the gut and therefore will not pass through.  The advantage
to using flavored hairball laxative is ease of administration.  If that's
not an issue, then just use vaseline.
 
Dish Soap to kill fleas: Yes, this will work.  However, like any soap
it does not have any staying power.  It will kill only the fleas on the
animal at that moment and does nothing to prevent re-infestation.  Also,
dish soaps can be very drying to the skin and should not be used as
frequently as is usually needed for fleas.  Where ferrets are concerned,
I can't imaging using anything other than Advantage or Frontline--It's
non-toxic, lasts a month, a large tube can be used to treat at least ten
ferrets, and the risk of adverse reaction is probably smaller than the
risk of eye damage from dish soap.  Why go to war with a stone axe when
you have an M-16 at your disposal?:-)
 
The problem with folk remedy books is that, although many treatments
work (at least somewhat), the reader is not usually told quite the whole
truth.  The corn oil for ear mites is a great example.  Another is the
use of cranberry juice to treat bladder infections.  Yes, it will work,
eventually, in many cases.  BUT, an adult human would have to drink
about a quart and a half of cranberry juice daily for at least two weeks
in order to get results.  Having had a bladder infection once, I can
guarantee I wouldn't be waiting that long!.
 
Deborah Kemmerer DVM
[Posted in FML issue 4138]