From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2004-11-06 23:55:08 UTC
Subject: Heartworm positive ferrets need YOUR help
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1878595.1099785308701.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
As some of you may know, Dr. Kemmerer Cottrell has been successfully treating heartworm positive ferrets with ProHeart for some time now. This has been virtually 100% successful in safely eliminating heartworms in ferrets. Other drug treatments are much less successful and often result in the death of the ferret. Dr. C is scheduled to be published on her treatment protocol in an upcoming issue of Exotic DVM magazine so be sure to tell your vet to watch for it.
Here's the problem. ProHeart has been recalled by the FDA due to adverse reactions in some dogs. This has NOT been the case with ferrets, and even though Dr. C has talked to the FDA about this, they refuse to budge, even under the new MUMS act (Minor Use, Minor Species). We've contacted vets in Canada where ProHeart has NOT been recalled, but for them to ship it across the border would present legal problems.
So we're looking for vets in the U.S. that may still have some ProHeart on the shelf. Maybe their administrative crew is not so efficient and they haven't returned the product to Ft. Dodge under the recall. All we need is the name and number of a vet willing to work with Dr. C and she will contact him or her directly. What is needed is one bottle of unreconstituted ProHeart and Dr. C will be paying whatever costs are involved.
Any help you can provide in this endevor will most certainly save ferret lives. Florida is quite a hotbed of heartworm activity and ProHeart is the only treatment that has proven safe and effective. The last of Dr. C's ProHeart has been used on two ferrets just this week.
THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM AND WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP TO TRACK THIS PRODUCT DOWN. PLEASE CALL YOUR VET ASAP AND ASK IF THEY HAVE ANY PROHEART AND WOULD BE WILLING TO TALK TO DR. C ABOUT PURCHASING IT.
Please contact me directly if possible and I will get the information to Dr. C right away.
For the ferrets,
Mike
* Michael Janke, mjanke@miamiferret.org
* South Florida Ferret Help Line, 305-385-6750
*
* Website: http://www.miamiferret.org
* Ferret Health Care: http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc
*
* Ferret Health List: http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth