I think that I know of only three standard meds in use for ferrets that
were tested explicitly in ferrets for treatment purposes before being
tried for them in practise: Fervac CD vax, Purevax CD vax, and IMRAB 3.
 
There could well be others and likely are, but after 20 years with
ferrets I can well recall many, many meds that were simply tried on
ferrets by vets because they might work and because the pharmacology of
the meds were known well enough to reduce the chances of them posing a
danger.  Some came from veterinary uses on other members of carnivora
but a number (for example Enacard, Diazoxide, Carafate, Florinef, etc.)
came from human meds.
 
Some of the times our ferrets were the first ones trying the meds,
because early on we often were treating for things that no one had
treated ferrets for before.  I know that at least 3 times I actually had
to help the vets by calling the research scientists who developed the
drugs (esp.  if the meds came in capsules or pill form) and find out
things like whether they could be combined with oil, whether saliva
posed a problem (some meds are neutralized by it), etc.
 
Anyway, my point -- having been there -- is that from my experience I'd
have to say that I think it is safe to state that MOST standard medicines
used in ferrets today were taken from uses in other species and not
necessarily in the same taxonomic order and then simply TRIED on ferrets
at some point in the past.
 
I know that if people weren't around then they likely don't know how
very, very much was trial and error, or that what they take as known
was experimental for some of us in the past.
 
I can often go through lists of things people are using and think: Oh,
yeah, we were the first to try that one, so-and-so was the first to try
that other one, and on and on.  BTW, among the ones for which we were the
first or the simultaneous first are Enacard, Diazoxide, and Florinef, but
there are many more.  Steve and I were even the first ones willing to try
chemo for lympho in ferrets (twice, actually, before Katie Fritz then did
for Bandit).  Right now we have one girl of a few scant handful of
ferrets being treated for Level Three A/V Node Block, and for each and
every one of those individuals at least approach being used is based on
knowledge from other species that is simply being tried.  Hey.  Sevie has
lived over 3 months since she should have died, has no pain, and is happy
even though she is terminal.
 
Someone was first for each of those drugs people think of now as well
tested in ferrets.
 
Oh, and in relation to references: Pubmed is a great place often to pull
up abstracts of research articles on the topics under discussion.
 
>>And 2,000 years of Chinese medicine can't be wrong
 
>Um, why not?  Just because people have been using something for 2,000
>years doesn't mean they're doing the right thing.
 
Three of my beefs with Traditional Chinese medicine are "Dragon Bones"
since many great fossils were lost to that, rhino horn given the loss of
so many rhinos, and bear gallbladders given the illegal poaching even
here in the U.S. to supply that trade.
 
One problem with some standard meds is pollution, and one problem with
some traditional/alternative meds is ecological damage (for instance the
decimation on some Eastern Montana Echinacea has caused real prairie
damage and the removal of some forms of ginseng has done the same
elsewhere).  Everything has a downside, too.
[Posted in FML issue 3933]