Hi Shari, et.al. The only brand of colloidal silver I can speak of is made by Silver Wings. ( 800-952-4787 ).. They seem to have the best quality control and value for price. (I don't work for them nor receive any commission-this is not a sales pitch). Their standard strength is 270 ppm, and looks like weak tea in color. If anything labled c.s. is clear in color, it's probably 1-10 ppm, or about worthless. (I've seen other brands sold for $10/ounce in stores, & it's a waste of money.) Swollen spleens: I spent some 6 months trying many herbal and vitamin combinations to reduce swollen spleens, and nothing worked except colloidal silver. I use the 500ppm strength (for cost savings) and with 1-4cc/day my Mr. Bear's spleen would shrink to half in under two weeks. Mr. Bear had spleen enlargement from using Nutro Max cat kitten formula with ethoxiquin. His sister Silky got a hardened kidney. Both improved when switching to a food preserved with Vits. E & C. (don't bother flaming me here, I don't make money on peddling food, and this first hand experience is proof enough for me. Also don't waste FML bandwidth). A couple of others responded in 2-3 days, and some had maby 80% shrinkage. In olden days, a silver dollar was put in milk to keep it from spoiling. The phrase "born with a silver spoon is his mouth" has reference to the health and vigor those people had:).. I have info. from Silver Wings on benefits and usage but I think Bill'd delete it as "advertising"... Again email me & I'll send it out.. It's also rather large for a post. My experiences are that the greatest results seen is in the reduction of spleen size. Colloidal silver is an immune system booster that can work with any other Rx. drug. This is because it's theorized that unlike Rx anti biotics that interfere with protein synthesis of the particular bug or family of bugs, c.s. acts as a catalyst for the bodies own immune system. There has never (to my knowledge) been any case of toxic over dose of colloidal silver reported. People are even using it in aids research (there are articles on this on the web).. I am NOT saying it's a "cure all", as even with a urinary infection that my Fred had, we used Amoxi with the c.s. & in 2-3 days he was over the irritation. Yes, I continued the amoxi for the full dose as we don't want to breed amoxi resistant germs! Timmy's recipe (web site in my sig.), has further info on usage of c.s., and the story of Timmy's total recovery from "terminal lymphoma", lab confirmed by Dr. Susan Brown, in Illinois. It's too long to post here, so if anyone wants it and can't access his web site drop me an email & I'll send it to you. The herbal tonic used in Timmy's recovery is now available as "Timmy's Tonic" and a red clover formula, the two being used together. The factory I negotiated with could not put them in one bottle without violating legal issues. The original is still out of production. I have a FAQ on Timmy's recipe and tonic I can email to anyone interested. I also have a comparison of the old to new tonics. Timmy is alive and well over 2.5 years from diagnosis... He sometimes even prefers playing with me than the other 8 ferrets. It's a really neat bond I'm sure others have experience with. It was a long 4-5 months for his recovery, and many mornings I'd cautiously look for him to see breathing as I couldn't be certain he'd survived the night. Last year I had two different vets in two different states look at him, and both said he "looked like he'd never been sick a day in his life". Since he's eating more and different dry foods I'm alternating his recipe with days of giving his tonic in water. It's neat to see 5 or 6 ferrets with their heads in a bowl, pushing each other out of the way in eagerness to get the goodies. It was a lot of work to have things good for them taste good to them, but seeing that is worth it:) Disclaimer: I am not a vet, and nothing herein is to be taken as diagnosis of, nor prescription for treating diseases. Consult your health care professional as needed, AND educate yourself on health building methods, materials and procedures. The best to all, Gary & the gang of fur -> Info on Timmy's healing & holistic healing= <http://www.concentric.net/~Gferret/> Pager email address for urgent messages=<[log in to unmask]>; (500 Char. Max.): "Regular pages"=800-209-1071 (I am on Pacific Time!) [Posted in FML issue 1998]