Hi,
 
I've only posted here once before, so after my question, a quick
introduction...
 
My question goes like this: when my fiancee and myself adopted our ferrets,
Totally Ferret was the food recommended to us.  After reading the list, it
seems like most folks think 8 in 1 is the best.  Ironically, we switched
ours from 8 in 1 to Totally Ferret by recommendation.  What is the
difference in these two foods?  Which is better?  Opinions, folks?  It
seems as though the poop output of our 5 "kids" seems to be acceptable,
not too much... unless there is a reason to change we're going to stick
with TF but I'd like to hear what other folks say.
 
The kids I am referring to are our 5 wonderful fuzzies (in order of their
arrival): Buddy, Dickens, Daisy, Sweet Pea, and Winter.  I was introduced
to ferrets by my fiancee Paula, and her lone ferret Podo and I hit it off
big time (he was the last of her original group of ferrets).  She said she
never saw Podo react to anyone like he did to me.  As happens to us all,
Podo passed over the bridge late last summer at the ripe age of seven.  We
both cried.  Then Joan Bossert, who with her husband Dick run Four Little
Paws Ferret Shelter in Merrimack, NH, found us a place to lay our little
guy to rest in peace.  Once that was done we came over to the shelter, and
along with Joan, there were two little faces pressed to the glass door
waiting for us as if to say, "Look, it's our new Mommy and Daddy!  (or
toys, not sure which..)".  Well, despite the fact that we resolved not to
just grab the first ferrets we saw but instead wait to find ones that would
"click" with us, we wound up taking these two great little guys, Buddy and
Dude (changed to Dickens), home with us.  And a new happy family was born.
(We heard later that they had their bags packed and waiting..  it was a
trap!!  :) ) Dickens has grown, and grown, to a happy 4 pounder, with all
sorts of different markings that make him kind of hard to classify (a sable
point blaze bib white mask whatever sort of agglomeration).  He's our
ferret ambassador, and helped us get our new apartment by convincing the
potential landlord how great he was..  Buddy is a handsome (and he knows
it) and loving Silver with point.  He specializes in kissing me on the nose
through his cage before we let him out.  He's also a good therapist when
you are feeling down.
 
On Halloween weekend we went to a nearby town for their Pumpkin Festival,
and stopped at the local pet store.  I almost passed by a small cage in the
back, within which rested a small ferret, curled up and asleep.  She'd been
alone for over a month, since getting there, and was about 3 months old.
She loved to play, said the person at the shop, and they tried to play with
her as much as they could, but we felt bad for the little girl.  I took her
out to hold her, calling Paula over.  When Paula came over, Daisy took one
look at her and, practically shouting "Mommy!!", jumped in her arms.  We
were hooked.  She was sort of an ugly duckling, but, literally over the
course of a short business trip I was on, she blew in a new coat, and is
now a beautiful swan, a fuzzy silver with point (thus earning her the
joking nicknames of Buddy Junior or Buddyette since they look so similar).
She's a "self winding" wild weasel with the most energy and loudest voice
of the bunch, despite her smallest (just 1 pound 13 ounces) size, and holds
her own with her bigger companions.
 
Finally, we felt we could make room for one or two more in our cage and
hearts, so at the new year we got our Millennium ferrets, Sweet Pea and
Winter.  Winter "Wonderland" is a dark eyed white, gregarious and pretty,
and the loudest food cruncher.  Sweet Pea is a survival story.  She was
found abandoned with a cagemate in the garage of an empty house.  The
cagemate died two days later.  Sweet Pea spent about 10 days in quarantine,
then the man at Conchico (sp?) animal shelter took pity on the poor little
girl with the forlorn "nobody loves me" attitude and took her home for a
while until Joan and Dick took her on at Four Little Paws.  This is where
she met Winter.  Even the other ferrets there treated her special, grooming
her and letting her know she was loved.  Our heart went out to her and we
took her and her new friend Winter home.  I am very happy to report she is
now doing great.  She is happy, and likes to play with the other four and
dance backwards to play with me.  She is also into stealing (surprisingly,
our other four aren't really kleptos), and once she gets hold of something
she'll hold onto it, even if you pick her up.  She's just the sweetest,
thus her name.
 
Wow, long letter!!  Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on, but once you ask Paula
and I about our ferrets it's hard to get us to shut up.
 
Dooks!
 
Mike and Paula (and Buddy, Dickens, Daisy, Sweet Pea, and
Winter)
[Posted in FML issue 2954]