Elayne, my SO, took the references I received from this mailing list to the keeper in charge of ferrets on Saturday, who gave copies to the vet. As a result, the ferret was given the required shots later on that day, and will be spayed later on this week. Thanks to all of you who responded with the needed information! The question "What is a ferret doing in a zoo?" has been asked by several people. The zoo has an education program, which takes DOMESTIC animals around to schools and senior citizens homes, and ferrets are part of that program. The zoo does not make the mistake of calling them wild animals, or say that they are anything more than very distantly related to the black-footed ferret. The zoo has very little experience with mustelids: indeed, the only mustelids they have in addition to ferrets are North American River Otters (Lutra canadensis), which I work with on Saturdays, and Cape Clawless Otters (Aonyx capensis), whose cubs I'm allowed to fondle from time to time ;-). Moki, the cat-riding ferret, was indeed named after Moki Fraggle, and has hitched two additional rides on Toonces since my last posting. Binky was named after the lead rabbit in Life in Hell - the cats are determined that she won't turn out like Moki. The only pet interactions we've had problems with is with one of our two Amazon parrots (a red lorred) and Moki. Neither is afraid of the other, and each wants to kill the other. Rima, the parrot, apparantly doesn't want her position as top animal in the house to be threatened by some short legged tube animal that can't even fly. Needless to say, when one is out of the cage, the other is in, but Rima does scream at either ferret constantly (we won't discuss her complete dominance over the cats by tail-biting and immitating them whenever they vocalize). Leonard Bottleman [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0524]