Vickie, glad you didn't forget that you can open that vet's mind and
possibly save the lives of other ferrets if you pass along articles by
vets like the ones at Charlie's Ferret Doctor site, the British one on
ADV, the ones Bruce Williams has at his AFIP ferret site, Debbie
Kemmerer's at the Miami Ferret site you used already, the vet comments at
Ferretcentral.org, etc.  Often the links don't get attention, but seeing an
article right there on paper with a vet's name attached sure gets through
and saves lives.  Most vets are wonderful people; she probably has heard a
lot of pseudo-med internet stories (since a LOT of that junk exists) but
just hasn't seen the good stuff.
 
Oh, Vickie, remember that in pills not meant to be chopped up (the ones
without cutting lines) the med often is NOT evenly distributed through the
tablet so just cutting it is NOT a guarantee of getting enough med or of
not getting too much.  With such meds when vet or pharmacist says it's fine
we either crush them and mix well then give in a medium the pros say will
be okay (since some shouldn't be in water and some shouldn't be in fats),
or we have a compounding pharmacy do that for us.  Compounding pharmacies
are much more common now than they used to be last decade or so (or perhaps
it just seems that way) but some do handle long-distance prescriptions and
ship.  One such is Belevidiere which is used by a number of zoos as well as
private individuals.  It's 800 number is 1-800-322-1302.  There are many
flavors to select among.
 
(Carla, your point about light is a fine one.  There are other
light-sensitive meds, too, and we've had experience with some of those.
Did not know about it in relation to this med so thanks for the education!
It's an important thing to know about.  Often people forget things like
light, heat, moisture, etc. can damage certain medications.)
 
Lisa, there have been some ferrets with adrenal growths that young, but
with a female at a very young age always think about incomplete spay or
perhaps no spay at all, and the dangers of being whole.  An easier option
is an infection.  Still, given her age it really, really would pay to be
sure she's not in heat since that could kill her if left untended.
 
Remember with Echinacea that it should NOT be given with certain meds.
There's been a lot published about that recently. and this is one of the
herbal meds with problems described in the last year's literature.  You'll
have to look up those more recent references, though.  Have lost most of
my files with computer woes.  Fortunately, some of the major newspapers
with strong science and med sections have printed this info when it comes
out so those are fine places to start to find direction.
 
Actually, our first ferret was from a small backyard breeder who was very
ignorant (inbreeding, poor conditions, etc.).  Our second was from a pet
store owned by someone who was also a small backyard breeder and who bred
from inbred, battered, fur fitch stock.  The situations describing the
large breeders and standard pet stores are actually an improvement over
what can exist and has existed.  (Sad thing to have to say, huh?)  For
many areas of the country there have been a lot of improvements in the
last two decades.  (We've lived with ferrets for about 18 years or so.)
Still, there wind up being backyard breeder stories (as opposed to private
breeders) and even auction stories.
[Posted in FML issue 3090]