Steve and I accidently met Sarah <starcat> of Petco and saw the adoption center there in Raritan, NJ. The young lady does not do herself justice. She has much more knowledge than is usual for two years with ferrets, certainly far, far more than we had in our second year around ferrets. Both Steve and I were surprised to find out that she hadn't been with ferrets more like 10 years. The set up was clean, the ferrets were happy and obviously trusting, and the ones with signs of problems had the signs already spotted early and arrangements were being made for surgeries. It's a bit of a drive for us but we both decided that it is someplace we'll be buying some of our supplies in the future, too. Isn't it wonderful when people do thing right? There is something I'm looking up for which I am afraid I'll have to request a spelling because I don't find it where I am looking. Let's see, going through 4 vet texts I find: Trichinosis (Trichinella spiralis) but that is nematode which sets up housekeeping in many species' intestines and not like what the person is seeking. (Fox's text) Toglotrema acutum, a trematude found in sinuses of fox, mink and polecats in continental Europe, possible due to eating frogs. (Lewington's text) Tricinella spiralis (see next listing) Tricuris vulpis, whipworms (enteritis) (Lewington's text) Trichophyton mentagrophytes, a fungal skin disease (which cats and rabbits also get) (Purcell's text) None of those fit the bill for what I am seeking for a person, so I am going to some sites, starting with http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org then on. Nope, no luck. Okay, back to the vet texts to look up respiratory... Nothing fits. Now, I will look up zoonoses: Nope, that is no help, either. If you can find out the spelling of what the rodents have I'll crack the books again for you and try to find if there is anything on ferrets in relation to it. It's probably just the wrong name; we all do that at times. Sure know that I do. I had a food manufacturer bring up an interesting point the other day. HOW FIRM ARE WILD POLECAT AND FERRET FECES? I don't know how many of you have looked at wild feces, but it is way to know what animals are in an area and unlike human stools with our high fiber intake which soaks up fluids the waste of many animals is rather -- well, I guess the best way to put it is "splat" or "thick pudding like". This is a feature which happens a good deal with some wild carnivores, especially those who tend toward a meat diet that is high in minerals because the minerals pull even more fluids along with them. So, the question arises asking what the wild feces are like because it might be that what exists could be a choice: pudding like stools with a diet which is more natural, or tubular stools with a diet which has more fiber than a natural diet (unless a type of fiber can be found which in low amounts solves the fluid equation). It is an interesting biological problem to think about, feces aside. [Posted in FML issue 4387]