First off, I'd like to thank all the people for input about Tank, my incontinent fixed male ferret (peeing short and frequent, no pain or straining, following the fixed female *everywhere* with much butt-sniffing and licking (ick)). He's getting an ultrasound Monday morning, and a more thorough urine test Wednesday. We're looking for either prostate or adrenal problems, although there's been no fur loss. I'll keep you all posted on what develops. Second, I'd like to tell you all about a situation that could have been the end of the ferrets. We are showing our house, and went away for the weekend so as to avoid the open house. My mother was to look in on all the pets (2 cats, one on medication, and the 2 weasels), and we gave the realtor her number. She got a frantic phone call Sat. afternoon from our realtor that the ferrets were out of their cage. She came over, found Snowy and put her away (Tank had returned to the cage to sleep), and cleaned up all the poops she could find. She also found that the upstairs door had been closed, stranding one cat away from the litterbox. Clearly, the house had been shown that morning, and either (1) a realtor had let someone try to pet the ferrets, and Tank got away from them, or (2) a realtor let someone go around unsupervised. Either is unacceptable, although it could have much worse: I had been moving the ferret cage to an unfinished portion of the attic each morning, so as to avoid exactly this situation. I didn't this weekend because it was supposed to get very cold. If the ferrets had been released in the unfinished portion of the attic, they'd have been lost and dead in the walls by the time we got home. Moral: Put actual combination or key locks on the cage doors if you've got strangers (realtors, contractors, etc.) letting themselves in when you're not home. Signs are *not* enough. -- Joyce --- Joyce Miller, [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2995]