Back in late Feb., I adopted a ferret, Ronan, who had been a stray and had become quite fat--he had the figure of a gigantic eggplant. I think that the experience of being a stray made him a compulsive eater, and it may also be that wherever he was from originally he did not get high quality food, so that he was used to having to eat more to get the same amount of nutrition. I'm pleased to say that Ronan's only a little overweight now, and continues to make progress. We accomplished that through three main methods: one was playing with him, mostly with toys on strings, to get him to move around. The second method was actually Seti's: playing with other ferrets who are in great physical condition is a good way for the overweight one to get a lot of exercise and challenge himself to run and leap and climb, working all the muscle groups. Seti is very fit and agile and can literally run circles around Ronan as they play :-) I don't cage my ferrets, so playtime is available any time the ferrets feel like it, which may also have helped. I know that's not practical for everyone, though. The last method required re-training myself. I've never had ferrets who overate before, so in the past, whenever the food bowl was empty I knew that it was time to put more food in the bowl. I had to break myself of the habit of always filling the empty bowl. I couldn't restrict food per se, because Seti and Ronan share a food dish, but I changed my habits to putting food in the bowl just in the morning and evening. I keep a close eye on Seti's weight to make sure he is getting enough to eat. I noticed after a week or two of regular feedings that Ronan would no longer compulsively empty the bowl whenever he went to it, and now he even sometimes stashes a little food for later. I think having a was time to put more food in the bowl. I had to break myself of the habit of always filling the empty bowl. I couldn't restrict food per se, because Seti and Ronan share a food dish, but I changed my habits to putting food in the bowl just in the morning and evening. I keep a close eye on Seti's weight to make sure he is getting enough to eat. I noticed after a week or two of regular feedings that Ronan would no longer compulsively empty the bowl whenever he went to it, and now he even sometimes stashes a little food for later. I think having a regular schedule somehow helped him accept that there would always be food on a regular basis and that he didn't need to gulp down everything to guard against future shortages. Something to consider if you have an overweight ferret... Regina Regina Harrison [log in to unmask] http://users.rcn.com/badriya/ blog: http://badriya-z.blogspot.com/ "Is that my business? Well, what is my business? Do I know? Did I ever know? Let's not go into that. You;re not human tonight, Marlowe. Maybe I never was or ever will be... Maybe we all get like this in the cold half-lit world where always the wrong thing happens and never the right" --Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister [Posted in FML issue 4918]