Actually, Boneset was used for fevers which is why another of its names is feverwort, and it sounds like the compound might be similar to the willow one that led to aspirin but I stink at organic chemistry and could easily be completely wrong on that score. The Boneset name derived from it being used for dengue fever (commonly known as "bone-breakers" or "breakbone" fever for the possible side-effect of the extreme muscle cramps that can come from it). Don't take my word for this. Check in _Tyler's Honest Herbal_ available from Haworth Herbal Press. The co-authors are Steven Foster who is the author for over ten books on herbs (uses, cultivation, etc.), and Varro Tyler PhD ScD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Pharmacognosy at Purdue U., past president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, American Association of the Colleges of Pharmacy, American Council on Pharmaceutical Education, and the American Institute of Pharmacy, as well as several research fellowships. for some time his love in life has been figuring out which herbs work how they work, which ones don't etc. He also includes some cautions in his books, but the _PDR for Herbal Medicines_ is usually a better text for that aspect, and sometimes the _Herb-Drug Handbook_ is. For the most part boneset is quite safe in the human literature. No one knows for ferrets, of course. One caution pointed out by the last text i mention above is that boneset has an antagonistic effect to some immunosuppressant medications so if a ferret is on such a med (as a number with malignancies, IBD, and some other things are) use caution. Of course, ALWAYS check with your vet before using an herb. A ferret-specific caution: ferret responses to aspirin vary widely. Some are fine with it, but some will hemorrhage for minute amounts as one of our's did years ago. (She really needed a clot-buster, too.) If the compound is similar to aspirin note that possible caution. It can cause diarrhea, swaating, or contact irritation in some people but none of these were serious. In the Ferret Health List Mike Janke has put the info on a vet who uses herbs and I'd be inclined in such a situation to arrange a consultation between that vet and the treating vet in case the veterinary herb expert knows of some ways that members of Carnivora may react badly to any given herbal medication that differ from human responses. The rule of thumb is that anything strong enough to heal is strong enough to harm, so it always pays to learn about any medications used: herbal, standard, OTC, holistic, etc. Yes, I read package inserts and i look up things that don't have package inserts. The reason is that once I understand possible side effects, or what conditions or essential meds preclude the addition of any other type of med the safer everyone here is. Many risks aren't going to happen, but some must be avoided carefully depending on the chances of the problem happening and the severity of the problem. Haworth Herbal has a website and their books can be gotten by finding that. They seem to be hung-up today but i think that they are at haworthpressinc.com though folks can find them with a search engine. The many assorted _Physician's Desk References_ including the herbal one and the one for supplements can be obtained from 1-800-678-5689, and the handbook on drug interactions can be learned about at http://www.onlineRD.com/herb [Posted in FML issue 3871]