Yesterday Rhubarb was at the vets for some routine stuff, isnt it strange that yesterday was also the day that little Cussieweezil arrived back at the vets after her private cremation. In some disconnected way, our twin girls were together again. Rhubarb is changing, she has not bitten hard in 3 weeks, has the wrench of losing her sister changed her that much? If this carries on I am gonna have to think of a new nickname for her, cos "Biteyweezil" wont be appropriate. I was worried for a few days as Rhubarb was very quiet, not playing, and spending a lot of time alone in the hammie, she seems to have picked up some now though, although she is still quieter than I would like. Has it really only been 3 weeks since Cussie left? I will get round to answering all of you who were kind enough to send condolence cards and messages, I just have a problem at the moment that when I think of our little girl for too long my eyes still fill up, well that is one problem, but I have another...... Now I dont want to get into a discussion about the ethics of any particular business, I dont need the stress, my request is comes from the desire to give the Furkid 3 what I have seen that they like best. I have been unable to get Marshalls Premium from my usual supplier. He says there is some problem with the "health certificates" from the U.S.A., (a change in document format or something I would guess), I really dont care what the civil servants problem is, the problem I have is that it is making it very difficult to get my kids the food they like most, (like I said they ferrets have chosen, its not for me to question), I am so angry that some pen pusher is obstructing supplies of the food that my pets visibly enjoy more than any other. I tried mailing Marshalls before we lost Custard, thier less than helpful advice was to order on line. That is not a good option, I want to be reasonably sure of the date of delivery, (so I can arrange to be here to take it in... it rains in the UK a lot!) and who is to say that certification problem will not be applied to an individual package should it be checked? Can anyone shed some light on the situation? They are currently on James Wellbeloved Ferret Complete, I notice that Bubbles often Coughs as he eats this, I think it is due to the way that it breaks when he bites into a piece (having a shape like a 3 leaf clover, I have noticed many small "bitten off" pieces left in the feeder), this cough or choke was something that didnt happen with the Marshalls product, and it concerns me greatly. Add to that the fact that the litter tray odour is definately more noticable, the fact that they dont seem to attack it with the same apparent enjoyment, and that frankly, they seem to have lost condition since Marshalls became unavailable to us. Like I said, I dont want to get into a discussion about the rights and wrongs of Marshalls, because all I can say with any authority is that I KNOW my ferrets enjoy that food the most, and that it seems to add something extra to their condidtion. We had a trial pack of some other food (totally ferret?) but they were unimpressed with that, they would only pick at it, they will eat Iams chicken, but I am not keen on that as it is cat food, and for all the different sounds in Skweeky's repetoir, I have yet to hear her purr, bing "picky" weezils they will only eat thier chicken roasted. I have not been able to coax them into eating raw meat yet, but I am still trying, but even if I manage that I cant find a butcher near me that can grind whole chicken carcasses up for me. most of the local butchers have been driven out of business by supermarkets, and here all they will sell you is prepacked cuts Our thoughs to those with sick, missing or angeled fuzzballs Cris, (& Unkie Lee) & the west coast weezils, Bubbles Skweek & Rhubarb. (Wardancing at the Rainbow Bridge - Cussieangelweezil) [Posted in FML issue 3846]