Risa asked: >Does anyone have suggestion for where to buy revolution online >inexpensively? I just sent this today to the FHL to answer some other med questions but the on-line expired meds problem comes up in some expert resources near the end: Expired drugs tend to be useless or unsafe. It's is not just pets who should not take them but humans also should not. I had an elderly aunt and uncle who did this without anyone knowing until after and both suffered serious neurological damage. There just are times when it pays to put up with losing a little money and get rid of things and expired medications certainly fit that bill. People forget that the age of the medication is not just the time they have had it. There will have been time that it was shelved at the manufacturer, in distribution, and at the hospital or pharmacy. Furthermore, other factors affect whether a medication has altered. I'll share a few of the things that pharmaceutical experts have shared here or otherwise taught over the years. Light is a problem for some meds. Some need to be shielded. We keep a well cleaned Ovaltine bottle around because it is brown to help on that score and people will notice that pharmacies use opaque or colored bottles for a number of meds. When we have had syringes of meds that needed to be protected from light we have put them into a box or wrapped them in foil. Some people think that any med will keep better if it is in the refrigerator. NOT SO! Some meds should not be stored at those temperatures. Always check. In your reading you will find the original bottle, box, or materials which echo them at the manufacturer's sites or drug information sites such as those mentioned in past FHL posts and the FHL Links section: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ and http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/links Humidity can damage other meds. Some medications last longer in dry form but once they have been mixed with water their life-span is limited. How long they last if they are compounded also depends on what they have been compounded with. There are other medication tips in the resources given above. For example, if a pill or caplet has a cutting line on it then the medication has been manufactured in a way that the active ingredients are spread evenly throughout. It is safe to cut those meds and use segments. If the medication does not have a line like that then, being careful to keep the conditions safe ones for the med, the med must be compounded, or it must be crushed, mixed very, very well, and measured into the right size doses, and of course, stored in the right way for that specific type of med. Some meds can be given with food. Some can not. Some can not be given with anything high in certain minerals, for example ones that bind to calcium. Some can be given with water, but others are destroyed by exposure to water or to saliva so if they are given by mouth withou a protective coating in place they can be mixed well with something fatty enough to shield them until they reach the stomach. Examples are dietary oils or Nutrical. With meds that may need to be released more slowly there may not be a good enough or safe enough oral route to use them for ferrets PO. Notice, too, that it is illegal in the United States for non-medical people to ship prescription drugs to each other. You can ship your own drugs under proper conditions if you are moving or will be somewhere for an extended time from what I have been told, but prescription meds, whether for animals or humans have to shipped only by those who are okayed to do so by federal law. Notice that when places like compounding pharmacies ship they will use special shipping conditions for some meds. Compounding Pharmacies: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL2598 (includes some very useful links) <http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/gM4NSZeJkD06aeDPg-Wxdk3gyCA4R3ltufe6Zd4-KYLrXXRl6giWpGSzooJS3Ioe3tZajbcMrYrMCUSKvaa0ZQ/comp_pharm.html> and if that second one does not work [It won't. BIG] go to http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/files/ and click open [Login required for that. BIG] BEGIN QUOTE comp_pharm.html List of compounding pharmacies FHL members have recommended. Most will ship. Compounding pharmacies are experts in making medications more tasty. END QUOTE Notice that there are regular pharmacies which do some compounding but that an accredited compounding pharmacy will have people who better know how to compound best, and how to offer medications that are given by a range of routes, not just oral. The first URL under "Compounding Pharmacies" above will show you ways to find such pharmacies. Some resources found in a Google search (and there are more for those who want to look): Notes from vets: <http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionsfaqs/qt/QT_expireddrugs.htm> http://www.portageanimalhospital.com/ Chemo Drugs Specifically: <http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Medicine/Take-precautions-when-using-chemotherapeutic-drugs/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/76349> An FDA warning about expired drugs sold as pet meds over the internet: http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/petdrugsonline121407.html Illegal to use expired drugs on research animals: http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/umnuser/formulary.html 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 6143]