The waste of carnivores is both more acid and has more nitrates in it so it can cause nitrogen burn for plants, and the salts in urine also can cause problems. Nitrogen burn is also caused fertilizer burn when it comes from fertilizers. LOL! Look who has something on that topic: http://www.marshallpet.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/what-is-lawn-burn/ I did not take the time to read it but did have a laugh on finding it. An article by a friend is about dogs but applies: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/complaint-box-dog-urine/ For gardening questions the people to ask are in your area's Cooperative Extension for the most expert free advice. Most people don't seem to know about them though they help avid gardeners and farmers all the time. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/39292149/Plant-Nutrition-and-Fertilizers looks like it is probably an interesting read but it hangs my computer. Even the waste of non-carnivores is typically aged before it is worked in, BTW, and the proportions have to be right. In some areas of the country aged chicken waste is no longer allowed to be used because of salmonella which is disappointing for some blackberry growers since aged chicken waste is great for those berries. Meanwhile, with the shiga toxin producing E. coli in a number of cattle some areas are considering tightening controls for runoff from cattle areas into plant growing areas and other already have since that is a common way to spread that bacterium onto food plants. Guess who was raised by a serious enough hobby gardener that he provided a beta test site for some professional developers of new plant varieties? 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 7078]