Joos wrote: >I ve heard of a treatment to let the body get accustomed to the stuff >you re allergic to, given as drops in your mouth. If i know more about >that, i will report it here. Those are Sublingual Immunotherapy, also known as S.L.I.T.; I hadn't heard that it was available for ferret allergies though it certainly could be. They work the same way immunotherapy with shots works except that they have a dramatically lower chance of an anaphylactic reaction, so for those of us who have that complication (in my case delayed by as long as 24 hours with the shots which was why the shots had to stop) they provide a better alternative. From my own experience they can be very effective (though I have different allergies than yours). Because of repeated anaphylactic reactions I was never able to build to a high enough dose of immunotherapy with shots to stop needing multiple meds, but now that has changed a lot for the better. Except during two very bad allergy seasons I now only need my Singulair (an asthma preventative) and occasionally an asthma inhaler. During my own bad pollen seasons I also use two prescription antihistamines (a pill and a spray), and an eye allergy med, some years in really bad seasons other meds are needed. So, we are very happy about the medications that can be skipped now for most of the year. The drops which are in glycerin are placed under the tongue and held there for at least 20 seconds. Then just swallow. As with the shots there are months when the dose is built up, then a stable level is given for a few years. Afterward the protection seems to last for as long as 7 years in one children's study, but more study is on-going. As with shot therapy it may be inappropriate for certain severe allergens, or for those who have certain types of severe reactions, for instance, I have never heard of any safe route for immuno-therapy for those who get Stevens-Johnson (toxic dermal necrosis) when they are immune-mediated reactions (The syndrome can alternatively -- and more commonly it appears -- be caused by some infections.), but of course I certainly am not a professional. That is just something I am aware of, because it appears in our family as do anaphylactic reactions. Some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublingual_immunotherapy Both http://www.allerdrops.com/resource_center/articles.html and <http://www.allergychoices.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi?siteid=1000162&statusFlag=goGenie&geniesite=59> have links to articles In the U.S. most insurances don't cover it yet but view it as "under investigation" despite long and successful use in Europe and in some studies in the U.S. but it can be purchased by patients themselves and the total cost turned out to be about the same as the co-pay for in- office immunotherapy shots when compared to the plan we had at the time that I switched over, so we actually save on gasoline, given that we are avoiding two hours of travel each month. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5838]