Hello!

One of my ferrets (Charm) may be getting a bit too fat, while the
other is staying fairly thin. I'm feeding them Science Diet Feline
Maintenance, and they both seem to like it. Any thoughts? He's
starting to waddle a bit... :-).

[You might want to try Science Diet Light, or whatever it's called -
the one for elderly cats.  We had Mocha on it for a while and it
controlled her weight.  On the other hand, our vet says that ferret
weight is so variable, due to the season etc., that it's probably
not cause for alarm, except when it goes *way* down.]

I was hoping to only have to nueter them (both male), but they
occationally spray *totally* unprovoked, and also every time they get
bathed, so I'm afraid they going to get descented as well. All of this
will take place on Monday.

I'm trying to turn them into "my room" ferrets, from cage ferrets
(hey, it's a big cage, I'm not a 20 gal fish tank ferret keeper!),
but they haven't even figured out the litter box in the *cage* yet ,
let alone using ones that I'd put in the corners.... Any suggestions
on how to make this transition as painless as possible would be
appreciated.

Finally, (anecdote time). I left them out of their cage while I was
away for a couple hours and they managed to turn on a small vacuum I
have, so when I returned, they were cowering behind the bed as far
away from the roaring vacuum as they could get... I'll unplug it next
time!

Barry (who keeps having to retrieve his stolen socks from behind the
bed.)

[Posted in FML 0192]