>Now to the business at hand.  I am looking for opinions from people who
>have both ferret/s and cat/s as to what litter I can use for the both of
>them so I can buy it in bulk and not have different varieties hanging
>around.
 
We use Bio-Flush, also known as Kitty Soft--a recycled-newspaper litter
that comes in convenient 50-pound bags.  It's a pellet litter, and the only
problem so far is that we had a couple of days of ferrets thinking it was a
new kind of food and running off with the pellets.  They figured it out
quickly enough (I don't think it tastes very good), but every new rescue
has to taste it for himself. :-)
 
The only problem we have using it for the cats is that we really don't
want the cats to use the ferrets' litterboxes.  The ferrets don't use them
reliably as it is; if they have cat pee in them, they won't go near them.
Sigh.
 
Many, many thanks to all of you who expressed sympathy for our recent
losses.  It helped immeasurably.  We're doing better now, appreciating the
crew we still have.  Speaking of which, we've found a new (to us) game!  I
filled an unused litterbox with water and watched them all dunk their faces
in (we don't have any swimmers), then dropped a few raisins, craisins, and
cheerios into it!  The Cheerios float, and the fuzzies chase them; after
a few, though, they decide they'd rather go for the raisins, which are
yummier.  Then we get to watch them try to get raisins off the bottom of
the box without getting wet.
 
Tesseract is wonderful at it.  She sights her objective, dives her head
under, and snaps up the treat.  None of the others are very good.  Luckily
for them, Tess is suddenly becoming picky--she left several raisins on the
floor because she was in the mood for cranberry instead. :-)  Bobbing for
raisins is fun!  The only mess is the water that splashes everywhere, but
it's no big deal.  Water dries.  And it's been really nastily hot here
lately, so we're going to start leaving them a swimming pool all the time.
How do you folks in hotter climates do it?  We hit 95 the other day and I
thought the ferrets and I were all going to broil in our own sweat.
 
Our latest rescue, Handsome, was caught war-dancing for the very first time
today.  We're ecstatic.  He and Simon, our therapy ferret, are becoming
best friends.  Simon is the guy who lets anyone drag him around and doesn't
hold it against them, or even fight back.  He's great for ferrets who are
nervous or aggressive.  We're going to start caging him with the problem
cases.  Has anyone else tried something like this?  Si honestly loves just
about everyone and everything, and doesn't seem to mind having his ears
chewed on--and he doesn't ever play rough with a ferret that doesn't like
it.  He also heads straight for any two who are fighting, and gets in the
middle.  They can't attack him--he doesn't even notice if they do--so
they're forced to give up.
 
Anyway, everyone is healthy, happy, and just fell asleep after a long crazy
play-session.  Except me; I'm mysteriously awake at 3 AM.  I think I'll
take a hint from my furry critters (not to mention the birds--they're all
asleep too) and go to bed.
 
G'night!
Jen and the Crazy Business plus four
[Posted in FML issue 2734]