Dear Susan D:
 
>...I got a prescription of prednisone today for myself due to having a bad
>reaction to my allergy shots.  On the insert that came with the medicine,
>it says, "This medicine may lower your ability to fight off infections.
>Avoid contact with people who have contagious diseases."  I'm assuming
>this is the same medicine given to ferrets with insulinoma.  Do you think
>the same thing applies to them, that they are more susceptible to our
>colds, the flu, ECE, etc., when they're on pred?  Just wondering.....
 
While prednisone is considered to be immunosuppressive in any species,
ferrets are generally considered to be "steroid-resistant".  It actually
is very difficult to cause systemic immunosuppression in ferrets with
prednisone, nor does it predispose to ulcers as it does in dogs and man
(ferrets have enough causes for ulcers, thank you very much.)
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3220]