[You're normally anon - I'm not sure how you want to handle this.
If you really want people to mail to you directly, let me know.
Otherwise, til then, I'll collect stuff that people want to
insert into your poll]
 
My four each had their own favorite snacks (all liked M&M's but those
certainly aren't good for them!!). Try *anything* you eat -- fruit,
veggies, noodles, breads... One of mine *loved* strawberries, apples,
blueberries, grapes.... another liked *fish*... a couple of them ate
noodles... Their base food was always dry cat food. They all also
loved Nutracal as a treat... but you're already giving that regularly.
 
I don't know if I mentioned it here, but Impulse died a couple of
months ago... When I'm pregnant, I don't deal with it too well. He was
my last ferret, and named that to remind me to 'stop impulsively
buying ferrets!'. He had a short lived symptom a few months before he
died of partial rear paraylsis, but some tlc and Nutracal and it went
away. His fur also started to look a little ratty... He was my only
ferret that was *not* a convience kit -- and he sprayed EVERY time we
let him out to play until he was fixed. It was rather gross.
 
One of my 4 escaped, but the other three all lived until about 6-7
years. The two convience kits I had for their full life were Wendy
Winsted kits... Imp was a random home bred one. Is it also possible
that the stock for convience kits is different than that for those
usually sold not fixed? I had heard stories from people of them having
ferrets and them only lasting a few years... This question hasn't been
answered for me sufficiently for me yet -- could everyone on this list
make the effort to sum up how many ferrets they've had - convience or
fixed at what age, and when they died (why if known)  or how old they
are alive?
 
Like:
 
Rikki (male)    conv.           died 7yr        unknown (old age)
Kang (male)     conv.           died 7yr        unknown
Nose (male)     conv.           escap 5yr       still going strong then
Impulse (male)  fixed           died 6yr        unknown
 
I'll tally the results and give them back to the list...
 
                                        Thanks!!
                                        *Tigger*
[Our ferrets:
Nicia (female)  fixed           died 5+         kidney failure.
                                (age unknown)
Toby (male)     fixed           died 10 mo.     Lymphosarcoma
Mocha (female)  fixed           5               Few problems
 
Sister-in-law:
Minka (male)                    died 8 mo.      Wrong anaesthesia
                                                during spay.
Tia (female)    fixed           6
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0180]