How much Melatonin?

[finniganpiper]

So the vet said to give 1mg of melatonin orally, but with the strength of the melatonin in the bottle I purchased, it works out to be around 4ml...that just seemed like a whole lot of melatonin for one little ferret. Can that be right?

[acodlin]

Does it say 1mg per 4ml of fluid? if so then that's the correct dosage. I bought 3mg tablets and halved them with a pill splitter, then crushed it up and mixed it with olive oil or ferretone.. I gave it once a day 8-9 hours after sunrise.

[finniganpiper]

Ah thank you! That sounds like it's such an easier option. Yes, it's 1mg/4ml of fluid. The vet said to get teh liquid version, so I never looked at the pill version. I'd feel awful having to give that to him every day! I think I will definitely try the pill version and pick up that tonight. Thanks for the tip!

[Heather]

I use the liquid and would far rather do it that way. It comes in all sorts of funky flavours. My guys love the wild berry. You give that with a chaser of fish oil and everyone is lining up for their melatonin. It's far easier to get a liquid into a ferret than a pill. I don't like disolving a pill as melatonin pills stick to the spoon, bottle or whatever you're going to use (I used a syringe but you have to crush that pill somewhere and then add the oil) Once that pill is crushed and added to the oil for some reason it doesn't disolve properly. I've tried 3 different manufacturers and none of the pills disolve right, that means that sometimes you get the right dose and other times they don't. With the liquid they get what they get. Pills and capsules also have fillers as binding, some of them are less than favourable for ferrets (soya)
JMO of course ;D
ciao

[miamiferret2]

i used to buy the pills from walgreens. i would take a 1 mg pill, dissolve in 1 cc of water, give .5 in the morning and .5 at night. i believe you can go as high as 3 mg per day.

[Heather]

My des kids are all on 3mg per day. It works for them
ciao

[weezz]

Yes, 3mg/day is as much as you should do.

Be aware, however, that not all brands are equal; some ferrets will respond to one but not to another. And pill splitters only work on pills that have a dividing line, as those are the ones with the medicine equally distributed on each side. If it doesn't have a line, then the doses are not equal.

I use the liquid melatonin from here:
www.bio-alternatives.net/melatonin.htm

I have good luck with it, but according to the vet you are not to give more than 1mg if it contains alcohol.

All my kids get 0.5ml/day (the ones that need it).

And for consideration: If they are not responding to a pill, try giving half the dose in pill format and the other half with liquid.

Buddy had really lost some fur the last 6 months of 2010. He had been on the pill form only, but when I started everyone else on the liquid the end of January 2011, these are the results I got giving him the pill AND a 0.5 dose of the liquid.

Buddy end of January 2010


Buddy a few months later - middle of May 2010


His tail hasn't filled in much, but he has gotten a nice coat of fur everywhere else.