Ferret health care is at risk. Every time you take your ferret to a vet the chances are that it will have to be treated with drugs not licensed for ferrets. Your vet will decide what is the most appropriate treatment in the light of his/her experience of the range of drugs open to use. Up to now vets have been happy to share those decisions with owners, ferrets clubs and various websites and publications. After years of trying to work with vets to build up a rapport with vets over treatment of ferrets for various illnesses it all could be threatened because three people - Eric and Ruth Corbett, and Cliff Bull - have taken in on themselves to judge that treatments are wrong and have contacted vets to threaten action against them. None are vets, none have responded to any requests from any individual or welfare organisation for evidence of their concern, yet they feel THEY are the appropriate people to contact YOUR vets about YOUR ferrets. This has all arisen over the use of fiprinol, the active ingredient of Frontline (which for many of us is the trusted method of dealing with fleas and ticks) for ear mites. Some vets use it as drops in the ear canals. This is also mentioned in the BSAVA Manual of Exotic Pets and on various websites. Fiprinol is not licensed for this use but vets have the professional right to resort to off-label drugs where they feel it is most appropriate to do so. If there is evidence that this should not be practised no-one has any concern about publishing information which corrects currently available information, but the Corbetts and Mr Bull have never been willing to divulge their supposed sources of concern. The bottom line is how do you feel that if your vet feels he/she might receive threatening letter when they have tried to help your ferret from someone you don't know, they don't know, nor who knows anything about your ferret? And this from people who claim to be concerned for ferret welfare? [Moderator's note: Seems like I'm taking issue with UK posters today. In the US there are no medicines approved for ferrets either, other than vaccinations. But vets are certainly free to use off-label drugs and do not fear prosecution from the government. The off-label drug laws are in place primarily to protect the food supply, and ferrets aren't a part of the human food chain. I've certainly heard of some vets being cautious due to fears of a law suit brought by a CLIENT if things go wrong with off-label use, but there really is little alternative to off-label use. Are things really so different in the UK? P.S. Your example of fiprinol is doubly odd in this case since it's not even classified as a drug in this country and thus is not subject to U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulation! BIG] [Posted in FML issue 4387]