Hi All! Dr. Tom Willard and I have been working on a recipe for sick ferrets. I've several at home who are ill or very old and don't eat solid food - one of which must be syringe fed or she won't eat at all. This new recipe is higher in protein (54%) and easier than my old one. 2 cans Science Diet A/D (or 1 can Science Diet prescription or kitten) 1 1/2 cups Pedialyte (fruit flavor) 1/2 cup Totally Ferret (finely crushed) 2 scoops Feline Pro-Balance (1 tablespoon) Crush Totally ferret with crusher or place food in plastic bag and hammer it to a fine powder (great for relieving tension!). Mix canned, Totally Ferret & Pro-Balance well. Add Pedialyte. Mix well. Feed in 1/8-1/4 servings at least twice a day. Refrigerate leftovers in sealed container and reheat to room temperature for next feeding. You may have to entice your ferret to eat at first and the addition of 1-3 cc's of sweetened condensed canned milk will help. Once they start eating it, decrease sweetened milk. We were able to omit the vitamins because Totally Ferret already contains them. Prissy eats less of this mixture than the other because she is taking in more solids. I tried it on the others that weren't sick and they enjoyed it. This way if anyone does need our special recipe, they may think its a treat! I'd like to thank Dr. Willard for all his help! Kansas - No one cares! We ran into another snag in Kansas. There's a breeder in Horton that sells his ferrets at Exotic Animal Auctions. These ferrets are housed outside all year round (and in winter its common to have -20 and sometimes lower wind chills). I haven't been to his place yet, but never fear, I will be going sometime this month! The ferrets are very nippy and I have rehabilitated 3 adults and 8 kits so far. Our problem is that the Animal Health Dept won't do anything because ferrets are classified as Exotic Wildlife and Wildlife and Parks won't do anything because ferrets are actually domestic even though they are classified differently. W&P's only regulation regarding ferrets is that "they can't be released in the wild". So now we run into another reason I worked so hard on the domestic issue (I'm still working on it, but in the meantime there is no agency to regulate ferret "mills" or abuse). Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I did contact APHIS and they said it is a state issue, although I'm still working on them to obtain assistance in this matter. Hugs to all! tle [Posted in FML issue 0910]