Hi everyone, I want to tell you how children's benadryl has helped my Zena. This year the experts say that everyone's allergies are worse due to the effects of El Nino. Boy, some of my relatives can attest to the truth that allergies are definitely worse this year. Zena, who is 2 3/4 yrs. old, has always been the one most sensitive to allergens, and this year seems to be struggling with a persistent allergic reaction to ---whatever! A few weeks ago I began to notice that her eyes were watering, like little tears. Convinced she was not crying, but having allergy symptoms instead, I gave her a dose (.30ml) of Children's Benadryl. Her eyes got better and I forgot it for a while. Then a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that her eyes were watery again and they had watered so much that one eye was a bit red around the top of her eyelid, and it also was a bit swollen. Since she would probably not like to have "scratch" tests done to determine what is causing her problems, and perhaps the allergy specialist would hesitate to do them anyway, I am grateful for the help she is getting from Children's Benadryl medicine. I began giving her the children's benadryl at .30ml dose twice a day, divided by 12 hours. Her eyes dried up completely and the redness and swelling went away as well. I stopped giving it to her about 3 days ago and today I noticed that one eye was quite watery again. I will try using just one dose a day to see if that controls her symptoms, but if not, I will go back to the two dose a day regime for a while. Hopefully she, and all you people and your ferrets will get through this more difficult allergy season soon. For your ferrets who have watery eyes or other true allergy symptoms, I can reccommend limited use of Children's Benadryl. I use the cherry flavor and have found that generic brands work as well as the brand name med. My excellent ferret skilled veterinarian has ok's use of this medicine for allergic reactions and the dosage I use has been safe for all my ferrets. I also give the same amount of children's benadry to each of my ferrets 45 minutes before they recieve a distemper or rabies vaccination. I have also given it to them for stuffy noses, BUT I always make sure to find out whether they are ill as well by having my vet see them too. He and I are concerned that the children's benadryl could "mask" the symptoms of an illness. An ill ferret needs antibiotic or other treatments and your ferret skilled vet will know what to give. Ferrets dehydrate and go down quickly when ill and must be monitored closely when on any med or if they are suspected to be ill. When we had to spray for fleas about 2 years ago, all of our ferrets had allergic reactions in varrying degrees from itchy skin and chewing their feet to as severe as a seizure (yep, Zena). Benadryl was wonderful to help get them through the couple of weeks they suffered from the affects of the pesticide. By the way, most all pesticides are extremely toxic to ferrets. If it is absolutely, totally necessary to exterminate or spray any pesticide, there are many precautionary things you can do to help minimize the harm that could come to your ferrets. I am sure I cannot remember all of them so I will only mention the ones that come to mind. Do net searches and FML inquiries to find out all that you need to know before you do any treating. If exterminating can be avoided some way, it should be. Of course, take all ferrets and othere pets out of the home which will be treated and leave them somewhere safe for as long as possible, but at a minimum for a full day. Air the house out and wash the carpets with a ferret safe product like vinegar (1/4th cup to a gallon of water). Some people say a product called NOW, bought at Sam's warehouse store is safe for ferrets when used to clean carpets. In the pesticide, products with Pyrethrins are said to be safer for use in homes with ferrets. Read labels. The product I used had pyrethrins. It was used by a friend with many many ferrets and no one had problems or reactions. So it is safer. I should have washed our carpets sooner and that would have lessened the effect of the poisons. I did not know it at the time. I think I could have washed the carpets almost right away and I waited a couple of weeks. So I learned the hard way there. ANyway, the children's benadryl helped tremendously with the allergic reaction symptoms. I gave them .30-.35ml(bigger ferrets got .35ml) and repeated the dose in 8, 10, or 12 hours, depending on the need of the specific ferret. For limited, short term use, Children's Benadryl is a wonderful medicine to have on hand. Encourage fluids when your ferrets are on any medicine including children's benadryl. Ask your ferret literate veterinarian. Jan [Posted in FML issue 2324]