When discussing medication amounts what needs to be known is the
milligram amount (mg).  That is because the concentrations of meds
vary.  If the med is disolved in water then you can use mg, cc, and ml
interchangeably, BUT if the medication is in oil, syrup, or something
else that doesn't equal 1 then cc and ml are still the same but mg is
not.  That is why people so often say that giving just the medication
amount does not tell how much med is being given.  For instance, unless
they have changed in the last few years there are two concentrations of
Prediapred: 2 mg for each ml, and 1 mg/ml.  Meanwhile, two list members
have reported encountering two more generic concentrations: 3 mg/ml and
5 mg/ml, and a compounded version could be different yet.  It's like if
you have a chicken soup made of chicken and water and wanted to know how
much chicken meat you had.  If it was a broth you had very little.  If it
was a thick puree you had a lot.  That is concentration.  If you know the
concentration and you know the amount you are giving in ml then you can
figure out how many mgs were used.  For example, if the medication is 3
mg/ml and you give 0.5 ml (half an ml) then you gave 1.5 mg of the med,
but if you gave 2 ml (a LOT of med for a ferret) you'd have given 6 mg of
the med.  (Always try to put a 0 before a decimal point because they are
too easy to miss in reading, especially with bad eyes.)
 
A dissolved med will not drop the bottom of the bottle.  a suspended one
will and will need shaking.
 
Some meds have food restrictions, and these vary.  Some should be given
with food.  Some should not be given with foods.  Some should not be
given with food high in certain minerals (like milk -- calcium, or red
meat -- iron).
 
There are even a few meds which require a restriction in extreme lifting
types of exercise because the soft tissues are more vulnerable to injury
(Anyone else here who likes moving iron extensively has had a warning at
some point, I suspect.).  Others may cause drowsiness or poor
coordination.
 
Some can have nasty side effects.
 
Some do not mix well with other meds or with certain supplements or
certain herbal medications.
 
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF MEDS THAT ARE SAFE ENOUGH FOR HUMANS THAT SOME
OF THEM ARE OVER THE COUNTER WHICH CAN KILL FERRETS.
 
For a while a New York State pharmacist, Semyon Lorberg, used to send
posts to the FHL (Did they get carried to the FML?  I think so.) so
there is a lot of neat info from him in the FHL Archives at
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org.
If you search for Semyon.Lorberg in the "from" box but don't search
under anything else you will get up posts from him.  He is also listed
in the compounding pharmacy list in
http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/ferrethealth/ReferenceShelf/comp_pharm.html
 
Also, I seem to recall at least pharmacist before there here on the FML.
The FML Archive address is in the header of every day's FML.  Both
archives are easy to use.
 
I am sure I've forgotten something important but off-hand can't think of
what.  Then there will be the things I just don't know about since it
isn't my field.
[Posted in FML issue 4872]