Michelle wrote: >why does it seem that all the wrong foods have made a healthier >ferret? Foods are only one part of the picture, and fur can tell incredibly LITTLE about health. (Many fur farm ferrets, fitch, have great coats and some of them have fine health SHORT TERM but also have very short life spans.) Exercise and genetics can be more important, and other factors also influence condition such as getting enough darkness, regular veterinary care, etc. There is some genetic work on people, indicating that sufficient exercise and having the right genetics may be the more critical factors for the unusually healthy and long lived ones, but for the rest of us (most of us) who are not so blessed have to be more careful about a whole range of factors: not smoke, eat well, exercise daily, etc. That's a truism for any species. 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) [Posted in FML 6775]