>Subject: Toothpaste deterents?
>Howabout straight peppermint essential oil?
 
*Please* do not do that!  Peppermint EO is too strong a skin irritant even
to be put on your own skin straight, let alone to go in a ferret's mouth!!
 
Aromatherapists warn to use no more than 3 *drops* of peppermint EO in an
entire bathtub's worth of water for a bath, due to the potential for skin
irritation.  EO's are very, very powerful things, and, at least in the
United States (where they are sold over the counter and the quality is not
as carefully monitored as it is in Europe) they should VERY seldom be taken
internally.  Some of the EO's could be outright deadly if taken internally,
for that matter.
 
Instead, why not try a dab of peppermint spirits (82% alcohol, available
OTC from your pharmacist, or the mint extract sold in your grocery store's
baking aisle?
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 2302]