From:
Angela Espinet
Date: 2002-06-29 10:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Food with meds!
Hello Katherine,
Prednisone has to be given with food! If you buy a
bottle from the pharmacy it says that it must be given
with food or milk! Since we do not give milk as a food
to ferrets, then it should be given with a food!
We may not be sure that the ferret has eaten his
kibble, so we will need to supplement with a food.
Since we know that babyfood(chicken gravy etc) is easy
to digest and quickly assimilated and a neccessary
food for a ferret with insulinoma, then it would be
wise to give this to the ferret BEFORE the pred.!
However WITH the food is acceptable, so whether
you mix in a little food, making sure the ferret is
going to eat it all, or whether you give it orally in
the the middle of his meal, it really doesn't matter,
as long as the ferret has FOOD in his stomach FIRST!
If there is a question of the ferret not wanting
to take the pred, then hiding it in the food is fine
as long as he eats the food, so giving a small amount
of food with med and then following with the rest of
the food, works extremely well for me with everyone!
As far as other medications go, unless it
stipulates 'with food' then it can be hidden with some
other treat, such as ferretone, nutrical etc..! There
are two exceptions(that I can think of), liquid FLAGYL
should not be mixed with anything else, as it will
permeate the whole mixture, with it's bitterness!
The other of course is CARAFATE which needs to be
given on an empty stomach, so it will coat the stomach
before administering food and medications! Usually
meds. that come from the pharmacy have instructions,
these apply to ferrets as well people, so if medicine
is obtained from a vet then one would be wise to ask
how it should be given to the ferret---Angela.
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