From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-07-13 14:34:00 UTC
Subject: Re: even just giving dosages can be risky
You have fine points, Katherine, but at some level we have to each
trust in each other to use careful and good common sense.
If a person who wants to reply is replying from the webpage then the
poster's addy is not necessarily known; that means either posting
immediately if time is limited or the problem seems like it needs
immediate reply, or waiting to see a digest for the address if that
is the format used. (Some use individual mails from the site and some
use mainly the website for reading.)
Ultimately, many things just come down to having to assume that
others here have good sense and will use it. It is made obvious over
and over again that this list is not a substitute for medical care;
it's used in conjunction with medical care, and utilized to learn
beforehand so as to be better able to help ferrets later.
>Encouraging the average pet owner to treat their
>animals themselves without a veterinarian's advice can
>be deadly for the animal. A lot of people don't
>understand that antibiotics don't kill viruses. I've
>seen many parvo puppies come in on the brink of death
>because their owners put off taking the dog in. They
>had been giving them pepto bismol and antibiotics at
>home waiting for the animal to improve. The same is
>true for ferrets. Many illnesses can be fixed much
>more easily in the early stages before dehydration may
>set in.
>
>I know it's different for rehabbers and shelter
>operators. After years of experience, they've pretty
>much seen it all. In my opinion, I don't think a
>public list is the place to share drug dosages and
>courses of treatments without the animals first being
>diagnosed by a veterinarian who has actually seen the
>animal. How can someone on the list be sure all the
>symptoms were acurately described? It's also easy to
>say "adrenal" when someone describes hair loss, but
>this could also be from fleas...without all the facts,
>a pet owner could be scared of losing their ferret to
>surgery or complications when all they really needed
>was flea control.
>
>Just my opinion,
>
>Katherine