Hi, I've only posted here once before, so after my question, a quick introduction... My question goes like this: when my fiancee and myself adopted our ferrets, Totally Ferret was the food recommended to us. After reading the list, it seems like most folks think 8 in 1 is the best. Ironically, we switched ours from 8 in 1 to Totally Ferret by recommendation. What is the difference in these two foods? Which is better? Opinions, folks? It seems as though the poop output of our 5 "kids" seems to be acceptable, not too much... unless there is a reason to change we're going to stick with TF but I'd like to hear what other folks say. The kids I am referring to are our 5 wonderful fuzzies (in order of their arrival): Buddy, Dickens, Daisy, Sweet Pea, and Winter. I was introduced to ferrets by my fiancee Paula, and her lone ferret Podo and I hit it off big time (he was the last of her original group of ferrets). She said she never saw Podo react to anyone like he did to me. As happens to us all, Podo passed over the bridge late last summer at the ripe age of seven. We both cried. Then Joan Bossert, who with her husband Dick run Four Little Paws Ferret Shelter in Merrimack, NH, found us a place to lay our little guy to rest in peace. Once that was done we came over to the shelter, and along with Joan, there were two little faces pressed to the glass door waiting for us as if to say, "Look, it's our new Mommy and Daddy! (or toys, not sure which..)". Well, despite the fact that we resolved not to just grab the first ferrets we saw but instead wait to find ones that would "click" with us, we wound up taking these two great little guys, Buddy and Dude (changed to Dickens), home with us. And a new happy family was born. (We heard later that they had their bags packed and waiting.. it was a trap!! :) ) Dickens has grown, and grown, to a happy 4 pounder, with all sorts of different markings that make him kind of hard to classify (a sable point blaze bib white mask whatever sort of agglomeration). He's our ferret ambassador, and helped us get our new apartment by convincing the potential landlord how great he was.. Buddy is a handsome (and he knows it) and loving Silver with point. He specializes in kissing me on the nose through his cage before we let him out. He's also a good therapist when you are feeling down. On Halloween weekend we went to a nearby town for their Pumpkin Festival, and stopped at the local pet store. I almost passed by a small cage in the back, within which rested a small ferret, curled up and asleep. She'd been alone for over a month, since getting there, and was about 3 months old. She loved to play, said the person at the shop, and they tried to play with her as much as they could, but we felt bad for the little girl. I took her out to hold her, calling Paula over. When Paula came over, Daisy took one look at her and, practically shouting "Mommy!!", jumped in her arms. We were hooked. She was sort of an ugly duckling, but, literally over the course of a short business trip I was on, she blew in a new coat, and is now a beautiful swan, a fuzzy silver with point (thus earning her the joking nicknames of Buddy Junior or Buddyette since they look so similar). She's a "self winding" wild weasel with the most energy and loudest voice of the bunch, despite her smallest (just 1 pound 13 ounces) size, and holds her own with her bigger companions. Finally, we felt we could make room for one or two more in our cage and hearts, so at the new year we got our Millennium ferrets, Sweet Pea and Winter. Winter "Wonderland" is a dark eyed white, gregarious and pretty, and the loudest food cruncher. Sweet Pea is a survival story. She was found abandoned with a cagemate in the garage of an empty house. The cagemate died two days later. Sweet Pea spent about 10 days in quarantine, then the man at Conchico (sp?) animal shelter took pity on the poor little girl with the forlorn "nobody loves me" attitude and took her home for a while until Joan and Dick took her on at Four Little Paws. This is where she met Winter. Even the other ferrets there treated her special, grooming her and letting her know she was loved. Our heart went out to her and we took her and her new friend Winter home. I am very happy to report she is now doing great. She is happy, and likes to play with the other four and dance backwards to play with me. She is also into stealing (surprisingly, our other four aren't really kleptos), and once she gets hold of something she'll hold onto it, even if you pick her up. She's just the sweetest, thus her name. Wow, long letter!! Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on, but once you ask Paula and I about our ferrets it's hard to get us to shut up. Dooks! Mike and Paula (and Buddy, Dickens, Daisy, Sweet Pea, and Winter) [Posted in FML issue 2954]