From:
Roger Vaughn
Date: 2002-05-07 17:01:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Re: the value of some medical procedures on your sick
ferret
> preventatives work by eliminating a life cycle. I don't disagree
> with your reasoning on your ferrets having minimal exposure, but
> medications are not necessarily poisons. -M
Quite right. Most vaccines are in fact not "chemicals" at all, but
dead varieties of the very virus they are meant to protect against.
The point of a vaccine is to stimulate the body's own immune system to
attack that virus if it ever appears again. So, for instance, a rabies
vaccine "trains" the body to fight the rabies virus by "practicing" on
a rabies virus that is already dead.
Chemotherapy agents are most definitely poisons. Antibiotics are also
poisons to a degree (as Bob Church so wonderfully points out). Aspirin
is not. Caffeine and theobromine (the "fun" agent in chocolate) are
not. These are of course still dangerous to ferrets, however. But
they don't kill cells. Instead they cause the nervous system to go
into overdrive, which can kill the animal. You have to remember that
any substance - even water - used irresponsibly can cause damage or
kill.
Cuteus, you are certainly free to raise your ferrets as you see fit.
No one here is entitled to tell you you're wrong. I simply suggest
that you should have sound reasons for your decisions. Calling all
medicines and "chemicals" poisons is short-sighted at best, dangerous
at worst.
Roger, Digger, Bear, Fox and Sniffles
Tampa, FL