I seem to recall some people who were using tea tree oil or lavender oil on ferrets. It might be a bad idea. New research into breast development in young males who had not been using other things which can have this effect led researchers to study these two oils. > Bloch contacted Derek Henley and Kenneth Korach of the National > Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle > Park, N.C. In their lab, the two investigators exposed human-breast > cells to lavender oil and, separately, to tea tree oil. They found > that each oil turned on estrogen-regulated genes and inhibited an > androgen-regulated gene. With ferrets already prone to too many endocrinological problems these are very likely best avoided at this point. > "These oils possess both estrogenic and anti-androgenic properties," > Henley reported at the Endocrine Society meeting in Boston this > week. He adds that the finding is the first to implicate "essential > oils" from plants in gynecomastia. (See the upcoming edition of Science News.) -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5291]