>I have stayed away from chew weasels because I thought they would be >trouble. I am curious to see what other people's findings are with this >product? Cheweasels, Foamy Fries and Marshall Chews (which are the same as Cheweasels) are all excellent and safe. They are mostly digestible gelatin that is very dense. If they have too much a short course of runs will occur, but they a great for cleaning teeth and for help with teething pain. They are available from a range of places and from the makers: http://hyperfur.com. Our's like Foamy Fries the best. >I have a weird one for you. I have a two year old male blaze badger, >purchased at Petco that has no markings. None at all. No ear tattoos, >no toe tattoos, not a single marking. But he has papers stating that he >is a Marshall Farms ferret. My vet says that is unlikely. Are there >others wiih Marshall ferrets that have no identifying markings? Most likely Petco would have sold you one from a different farm (perhaps PV since they don't tattoo, but that is "perhaps") as an MF. A number of the larger places do NOT keep track of which ferrets are from where and mix their lots. It is not a healthy practise. Haven't heard of Petco doing it before that I recall but have heard of them having multiple sources in the past. There are several things I can't help but wonder with any place that has their own holding (warehousing if truth be told) locations and can't keep paper work straight (ditto distributors or stores which don't). I wonder about cross-infection in mixed lots. I wonder about the possibility of backyard breeders' ferrets getting into the mix (though I think that is more likely with some of the worst-end distributors). Let's face it, when rescues such as the Christmas Rescue happen and a LOT of female ferrets are there who had obviously recently been pregnant but there are NO kits (as happened in that rescue) those missing kits went somewhere and went there fast and in large numbers. I wonder about misidentifications. I wonder how a place that can't even clip a folder of papers to a cage makes sure that the kits have enough food and water to not be malnourished or dehydrated during the time there resulting in stunting or health problems. That is true for too many places. >Anyways the experience I had turned me off... because they sent this >little one out so young. ALL of the farms, all of the backyard breeders, and some (not many) of the private breeders do. That is why we need the state laws that follow Alicia's law. Aren't there some ferret shelters up in your neck of the woods? Then you could take the money saved and use it as the start of savings for veterinary care, which is always a great use for it. >As I have read about the fake tatooing as an excuse for underage ferrets >with what feels like regularity over the years here-with never an ounce >of proof of this-and no one offering any now either Use the FML search engine; last year or the year before there was even a shelter operator talking about ones with fake "tats" DRAWN on with marker that were fading over a short period of time. You either missed that or just forgot about it. [Posted in FML issue 3800]