From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2011-10-17 17:13:19 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Fleas/mites - safe treatment
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Be very aware of potential hormonal problems when using tea tree oil or lavender oil.
Please, never assume that natural means safe. A great many poisons are natural.
On Oct 17, 2011, at 10:35 AM, Sarah wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm in the UK and for the last 5 years I've used a tea-tree wash on my ferrets for fleas.
They were in the biological and medical news a few years ago because of some men's shampoos that were used by pubescent boys. It turned out in the original study that both tested as estrogenic and anti-androgenic so the boys were forming breasts (a problem that also has been caused in some boys by smoking pot).
In ferrets this means that if those compounds act in that fashion then using them can look like adrenal disease. I do NOT know if the use can become bad enough to cause some of the more serious complications of adrenal disease but suspect that like anything else a large enough exposure or exposure often enough might have that potential.
So, using either of those products might be asking for trouble with some ferrets, or might tip over some ferrets who are fighting adrenal disease, or just beginning it into have even more of a nasty hormonal bump.
See:
Actual article:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725
while this disagrees but did not look at possibly synergistic effects:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18255254
Easy to read summaries:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17746
and a quick search shows these for all:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070131204136.htm
http://readingdirt.blogspot.com/2006/07/lavender-and-tea-tree-oil-estrogen.html
http://www.hormoneimbalanced.com/iteatreelavender.html
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/09/05/29526.aspx
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
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