Fellow ferreteers,
 
Janice Underwood brought up the food shape issue, mentioning her fuzzies
don't like pellets.  Coincidentally, neither do mine.  Boo-Boo refused to
eat Science Diet for a long time.  She's eating it now, but did lose some
weight before she gave in (she was a tub before, and now I think she's just
right--and her weight's stable).  I wonder if the pellets are hard to eat?
Maybe either the shape is hard to chew, or they're too hard?  In any case, I
think I'll switch back to Iams (star-shaped, apparently easier to chew),
which they always liked a lot.  I haven't yet been able to find a good
source of food made specifically for ferrets here in central Jersey.
 
I have an amusing story related to this.  Someone (maybe on the FML, I can't
remember) told me that the alfalfa rabbit food pellets make good litter, for
cats, ferrets, etc.  It's super-absorbent and tends to cover the smell with
a nice clean alfalfa odor.  (It just occurred to me--is this odor as bad as
the resinous volatile oils responsible for the dangers of cedar shavings?  I
wouldn't think it is--just like the smell of grass, which must have been
part of their natural environment before they were domesticated.) Plus it's
inexpensive (50 lbs is about $8) and ecologically sound.  I first tried some
in the cat box, and this met with indifference on the part of the cats.
However, Boo-Boo (1 1/2 yr old sable female terror) took one sniff of the
pellets and her apparent response was "Thanks, daddy, new food!!!!" She took
two or three in her mouth before I could stop her (she's *fast*, but the box
was clean) and bounded off under the couch to eat them, dooking her thanks
all the way!  Good thing I'd tested it out as cat litter first--who knows
how much she would have eaten while she was in the cage during the day--and
I might never have noticed.  Ewwwww!
 
So much for innovative litter ideas!  Now I have 49.5 pounds of rabbit
pellets to get rid of...
 
    Cheers all,
         Eric Lucas
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[Posted in FML issue 1523]