I had someone ask me if I was going to correct Katharine (her word). I thought that what I wrote to her (the person who wrote to me, not Katharine) may be useful for list members in general so I copied it here same text (no quote bar): Okay, I will keep this short to conserve i0ad power during the storm. Power is out. I will send when wifi is back on. Katharine is right on timing. So was I. Here is why we can give two different times and still both be right: it is known there can be a problem with Carafate coating food or medications and not settling into the injuries where it is needed if foods or other medications are given too close to the time when Carafate was given. That is established. It is also known that medications might vary in how easily they can be coated, and that medications DO vary in how easily they irritate the stomach. There is much less known about the digestive timing and dislodging timing in ferrets in relation to specific locations like the stomach than there is for humans. So, with an animal that had such rapid digestion, except in those who have medical problems that slow it, it becomes a balancing act. If a medication might be more likely to be coated but less likely to cause irritation then even if the longer timing MIGHT allow some of the Carafate to have been lost it should work well, and eve n may work better. If the med might be less likely to be coated but more likely to cause irritation then a shorter timeframe may be better. A lot of that is guesswork and no one knows how much the rapidity may change among typical ferrets, either. I have heard or vets using shorter timeframez than we use, and we personally have used longer ones for tso individuals who had very slow digestion and very tender stomachs. So, the vets can adjust up or down depending on individuals or their own person experiences. Oh, and whe the med is used to coat the esophagus e timing is always shorter because it is dislodged faster, something known from human uses. So, we were both right, but ultimately this something that may be best adjusted for the individual and the medication once more is know about some specifics of ferret digestion. [Posted in FML 7837]