Awhile ago I posted about Rocky catching a mouse in the bathtub but when one was in my bedroom it dashed past him, while he was still sniffing where it had been. I noticed a funny thing today. I put the mouse trap back in the bathroom and Rocky sniffed the trap and then immediately jumped into the bathtub looking for the mouse! He does have the predator instinct, and he can be extremely fast. He once jumped up and caught a fly in flight, and he moved very quickly when he noticed the mouse in the bathtub, and also when he goes after those palmetto bugs and immediately eats them, which takes care of one problem for me LOL. So it's not his ability to move quickly enough to catch the mice on the floor. I have noticed that he has a hard time even finding a treat on the floor if I don't put it down right in front of him. I was wondering if it was his vision or sense of smell. His hearing is very accute; that I know for sure. It's probably the main reason he doesn't like going outside. So I did an experiment with Purina Kitten Chow, which he loves and I give him as a treat. I tossed the treat on the floor in different lighting conditions and also where there was more contrast. The kitten chow and TF treats blend in with the old wood floors, so also I tried the bathroom also, where there is white tile. He would watch me toss the treat, hear it hit the floor and start trying to find it, but often went in the wrong direction and sometimes even when it was a couple of inches away from him he couldn't find it even though he was sniffing all over the place. He'd look up at me if I'd point in the direction and say, "Go get your treat Rocky" and he'd go in the direction I pointed and find it. So I figured out it is not his vision, which I suspected it probably wasn't since ferrets don't rely on vision to hunt like cats. Also, he is a very good judge of distance on whether or not to jump from my desk chair to my dresser, depending on how far away the chair is. I concluded, it must be his sense of smell that is hampering his hunting ability--for creatures as well as treats! I've also noticed that often if I offer him some food--chicken, kibble, or whatever--he'll sniff it and won't want it but if I push it to his mouth enough so that he can taste it he will not only eat it but want more. If he really doesn't like it or it's his kibble and he's not hungry, he will spit it out. The only exception is fruit--of course!--which he can smell from another room. But fruit has a much stronger smell than meat or kibble. Does anyone know anything about this? Is Rocky's sense of smell particularly bad for domestic ferrets? Since their hearing seems to vary, I imagine sense of smell does too, just as it does in humans. Shron & Rocky--poor little disabled predator BTW, he is eating some kibble again, but still prefers chicken, chicken gravy, egg yolk, freeze dried liver. I resigned myself to leaving his bowl out all the time in the bathtub despite the mouse problem. Also I mixed in a sample of Path Valley poultry and rice pellets (which he also wouldn't take initially until I forced him to taste it and he liked it.) To reassure some of those who replied, I am sure he is not sick and his teeth are fine. [Posted in FML issue 4748]