Stacy Thomas wrote:
> [My vet] suggested I take them off of IAMS kitten food & move them
> to IAMS cat food. She said the kitten food has too much calcium &
> they're done growing so they don't need it anymore.
 
I haven't heard of a problem with calcium, but too much protein may
cause kidney problems, so it's recommended that you switch from kitten
to cat foods when your ferret's about 3 years old.  (That's from the
FAQ -- sorry I lost the exact source, but I recall Dr. Williams making
about the same recommendation.)
 
> They seem to be getting pretty big - 3 lbs. & 3.7 lbs. - should I
> ration their food? They're both less than one year old.
 
That's not too big for full-grown males.  The only reason to ration
food is if your ferret's really overweight, so no, you probably don't
need to.
 
Anon asked about our swimming ferrets, on the WWW page:
> how can you get them to swim in the bathtub when they are full grown
> adults?  Do you just fill up the bathtub with warm water and throw
> 'em in?
 
Pretty much, yes, as part of bathtime.  They don't swim every time,
but sometimes they just seem to be in the mood.  Pixxel (the
full-grown, darker one in that photo) in particular likes to dive for
the drain plug, though she's never shown any real interest in the
film canisters or wind-up bath toys we've tried.
 
Sukie Crandall wrote:
> Keep picking cucumbers or Father gets sore (Kingdom, phylum, class,
> order, family, genus, species).
 
Oh, you mean "King Philip came over for good spaghetti." :)
 
- Pam Greene  <[log in to unmask]>
Ferret Central - <http://www.ceas.rochester.edu:8080/ee/users/rhode/index.html>
Ferret FAQ - GET ANSWERS PACKAGE FERRET in mail to <[log in to unmask]>
[Posted in FML issue 1104]