In relation to alternative medication Ela writes: >You'll probably want to run this dosage information by your vet., to get >his/her input, Dona. Actually, with more and more becoming known about ways in which alternative medications (like standard medications) might affect things like clotting, or have interactions with other meds it is essential that your vet always knows what alternative meds, over-the-counter meds, and even nutritional supplements are being given. (Also true for your physician and include things like tobacco smoke or heavy drinking.) Bring them to the visit so that the contents can be read. Vets have less money for things like references so might not have a copy of the _Physician's desk reference of Herbal Medications_ handy. It may come down to you looking up interactions. Also, don't forget that as with newer standard meds there can be interactions which haven't been documented until after publication of the reference. The NY Times Science Section has had several articles in recent years on such interactions so you might want to look in that paper's site as part of your learning. Alternative meds, like standard meds, have to be strong enough to have an effect, but the problem exists that if something is strong then it might affect other aspects of health as well so you just have to know the situations in which that strength poses a problem for any type of medication. I knew someone who killed her ferret with an herbal med post-op because she figured it was worth experimenting but didn't know that it promoted bleeding, so the vet did a fine job and then she bled the ferret to death with her "remedy" after it got home. Beheading seems drastic, Randy. How about exposed roots for exposed roots? :-) That person is clearly someone who needs to be shut down, fined strongly and maybe plopped in a cell for a while. Like the backyard breeder whose deformed and very inbred kit was nursed by a shelter before dying extremely young of it's deformities, and like the fake "shelter" which was really an animal collector closed down in southern N.J. (with Kim and KiSta being the GOOD guys -- saving as many of the ferrets as could be saved after they were turned over to them by authorities who shut down the collector), and like so many more, the absolutely worst cases of abuse tend to involve small operations and all too often they get off the hook too easily. Never forget to learn more about ferrets at: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index/html http://www.ferretcentral.org http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc and other fine sources -- both before they join your family and afterward. [Posted in FML issue 3084]