Okay, I'll admit it - not all of my ferrets are box-perfect.  Well...
actually none of them are! :)  So I have a box in the cage, and they are
paper-trained elsewhere.  I'd love to put boxes out, but one of my girls,
Anastasia, just will not use a box unless she's in the cage, and if *she's*
not using a box, the others don't see why *they* should either!  So, I use
paper, and they're quite good with that.
 
Recently, however, Anastasia has decided that she doesn't like the paper.
What confused me for the longest time is that she would go *near* the
paper, so it wasn't that she had a new spot, but didn't want to go on the
paper.  I have tried to be vigilant, and reward her for using the paper,
and stop her from going next to it, which worked okay, but she keeps
backsliding.  Then I noticed the other day, that when she is *on* the
paper, her back legs tend to be a bit slippy - she seems to have a hard
time keeping a grip.  She is a bit portly, and about six and a half years
old, so maybe this is being caused by that (other than on the paper, she
seems fine - no back leg weakness or anything).  But I would guess it would
be no fun to keep losing your grip when you're trying to pee, so she might
be going on the carpet because she feels more secure.
 
My question is, does anyone have any suggestions for something to put down
that is like paper, but not so smooth?  I haven't had this probem before,
so I have no idea what might work.
 
thanks!
 
Megan and the imperfect trio:
Anastasia ("Imagine *you* kept slipping off the toilet!")
Lexie ("Maybe if she lost some weight she wouldn't have such silly
        problems.")
Sammi ("Well, *I* used a box before I met you two!")
[Posted in FML issue 2807]