Let me introduce myself since I am new to FML and love it. My name is Donna Austin and I live in Annapolis, MD, with Warlock, Dakota TBear, Tawnee Sioux, Misti Sioux and Chuckie ferrets and Paulie and Freckles kitties and 8 fish. As I was reading the last few issues of FML I thought I had missed getting an issue and started to panic. Then I discovered it was there after all. I was much relieved. I am really glad to see Dr. Bruce Williams is the FML vet. He did stool sample checks of a couple of mine when I was having green diarrhea virus problems and was most helpful, knowledgeable and kind. To Dr. Williams: I am having Tawnee spayed in a couple of weeks. She will then be 6 mo. old. I want to know if it is recommended that I get her descented at the same time. I am against the descenting since it is not necessary like the spaying. Is there is a medical reason why she should be descented? Just a note - Warlock is now finally doing great after having been so sick last October. His fur looks good and he has actually gained a couple of ounces over his normal weight before the sickness. He is having a terrific time playing with new furry friends adopted over the last few months (5 ferrets now). Re Shoes: My fuzzies like all shoes, boots, slippers, etc., especially the inner soles. They got in a pair of my knee high boots and dug out the inner soles and have managed to do that to any pair of shoes they can get their paws on. A friend came over one day and left a pair of snow boots beside the front door. When he went to leave, he notice the inner sole of his boot was laying on the floor. I tried to keep from laughing because this is just one cute little trick that the fuzzies do. My friend was not laughing. P.S. We're still friends. Re Food: I have always fed Science Diet, but it does contain Ethoxyquin as does most of the pet foods. I heard that Ethoxyquin was not good for ferrets and recently discovered a natural food called ANF TAMI that I have been mixing with the S.D. When the S.D. is gone, I am just going to feed them the ANF. Re Plants: The only thing I have found to keep the furries out of plants is to move the plants up high. I had one very large (lots of dirt) plant I had moved on my desk but Koti managed to find a way to get on the desk twice (I should have moved that plant the first time) and dig dirt everywhere - on my computer, etc. I'll never get all the dirt out of the Rolodex card file. [Posted in FML issue 0728]