From:
"Roger Vaughn"
Date: 2002-12-13 17:29:48 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Adminisering Medication
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <2005.192.168.132.34.1039800588.squirrel@webmail.seaconinc.com>
Well, there are two sides to that answer.
Your pharmacist should know best the interaction of drugs with other
substances. For instance (if I'm remembering this correctly - it's
been a while) iron neutralizes tetracycline-family antibiotics, so
taking vitamins at the same time as the antibiotic is
counterproductive. Or such as giving Carafate and an antacid at the
same time is counterproductive since the Carafate needs the stomach
acid to activate. You might want to ask your pharmacist if he's aware
of any specific interaction between the oils and these drugs that he's
concerned about.
On the other hand, he might just be concerned about the ferret not
digesting the oil, which might "wrap" the drug powder and prevent it
from digesting. This is where your veterinarian ought to know best -
how foods and drugs are handled within the body. You will probably
want to discuss the pharmacist's comments with your vet for this
reason.
Personally, I think that since ferrets digest and mobilize fats (oils)
so well, this should not be a problem. But I'm not medically trained,
so please ask someone who is.
I generally give meds in Nutrical or Nutrimalt. They're designed to
be easily digestible, so they should not block the meds - unless
there's some substance interaction like I said above. I tend to
prefer Nutrimalt since it doesn't have as much simple sugar (corn
syrup) as Nutrical does.
roger & the fuzzies
missing bear