One of my son's school-mates stopped by our house with a little sable girl, approximately six months old. He was going to the woods by our house to let her go and my son begged me to let him keep her so she wouldn't have to die. Well, her first night at our house was spent in a cat carrier with a water bowl and all sorts of vegetables because I didn't know what ferrets ate. She ate all sorts of interesting things, stewed tomatoes, cabbage and those little tiny ears of corn. Just the thought of it makes me shudder now, but I didn't know what to do with her. Off to the pet store the next day for a cage and a ferret book. Yes, I bought kibble!!! It was horrible kibble, but it was kibble. Thus was my introduction into the wonderful world of ferrets. Truly, I didn't even know that you had to let them "out". We learned that lesson very quickly. Zoe is the love of my life, she was so smart when we got her. She was never a lap ferret, but she was beautiful and I enjoyed showing her locally. Zoe was soon joined by a pathetic-looking blaze from the pet store. I wanted him because I thought he was deaf. Surprise! He just has selective male hearing....... Stewart (named after my son's Army base) turned out to be one of the most beautiful blazes I've ever seen. He won Momma lots of ribbons, too. Stewart is about 4-5 and Zoe is over 7 years of age with adrenal and insulinoma, but I wouldn't trade either one of them for anything. My director is fond of telling people, "Julie doesn't love her ferrets, Julie's in love with her ferrets". I guess it is true. They definitely steal your heart. Merry Christmas to all of you and hugs to your ferrets and other animals. Julie Coddington, Project Manager Medical Staff Services Grant Medical Center (614) 566-8667 telephone (614) 566-8049 fax [Posted in FML issue 5091]