From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-09-03 16:21:49 UTC
Subject: RE: Pain medication Options for ferrets after surgery
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1659159.1094228509590.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
With Mornie we had to use the pain meds for a different reason. She was way too active -- to the point where she posed a risk to herself -- so we had to slow her down with the Torb we had. (We're an hour from the vet under good conditions during regular hours.)
We've used both Torb and Metacam just like the others have.
Situations in which we personally prefer opiates like Torb: ones with large amounts of pain (post surgically or with something like lympho in the spine or spinal cord), ones where the animal needs to be slowed down and also likley could use some pain control (Some seem to get frustrated by the needed caging and pain combo.), ones where we have to give sub-cu but the individual is especially difficult to do.
Notes about opiates in general: if non-postsurgical, terminal ferrets truly need it they tend to have minimal to no slowing down from the opiate if the dose size is not too large. Postsurgically slowing them down a little bit can be useful at times as long as its not too much. You don't necessarily want to slow down one who is being helped to cope with a terminal condition so sometimes it may be necessary to talk with your vet till the dose size seems right. We've had ones who weren't postsurgical on opiates for pain control when terminal and have encountered increased activity simply because they felt so much better. Oh, and we have never had one who showed any signs of an addiction to the meds.
Hope I said that clearly enough.