My veterinarian has transdermal (TD) preparations of metronidazole/aka flagyl and also prednisolone. Luckily my last sick ferret who needed both daily had large ears. TD preparations have to be applied usually with a tip of a surgeons disposable glove. My vet has her staff snip off the glove fingers (or I just take a few gloves home with me and do it myself) and I put one on my index finger, squeeze the med from the syringe and anoint the interior of the ear. That way they don't taste it. I cannot find any studies in ferrets, but found one using topical application of a drug on dogs with dental problems http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1447390 - the drug is not measured in the blood stream so its not obvious how well it gets across the skin and into the system, There is a mention of an ongoing study of transdermal meds on one of the Ferret Health List posts but it seems not to be published yet. I have found (doing blood glucose here at home) that trans dermal pred does seem to work on ferrets, but it's necessary to remember to clean the ears every couple of days because there's a slight residue of the cream containing the drug which leaves a residue. I still prefer using something orally - somehow skin absorption seems inexact, but for a ferret that will not swallow its worth a try and it does seem (at least for flagyl and pred) to be a good alternative to spitting/vomiting ferrets. Meryl [Posted in FML 7837]