Joe B asked about controlling fleas: If you need to use flea powder for a fast solution (and it sounds like you do) just be sure it is formulated safe for kittens. Stronger stuff is apparently very dangerous for ferrets. I have heard recommendations that cat flea powder be mixed with talc to dilute it, and dog flea powder is better not used at all. When I lived in Australia, where fleas are epidemic, I had our two ferrets plus a Doberman. The Dobe brought fleas home from the park, and they took up residence in our musty old carpet. We got a much better permanent solution to the flea problem from our vet. It was a set of three insecticide "bombs" which I spaced out around the house, set, and left for a few hours. When I came back, not only was every flea and cockroach (also endemic) dead as a doornail, but they did not come back for NINE months! I tell you it is the greatest stuff. One of the main ingredients was pyrethrin (i.e. some kind of daisy extract) which is used increasingly in insecticides for the home, or so it seems in Istanbul. The way the bomb works is to screw up the growth cycle of arthropods (not mammals or other critters) so that they never reach reproductive age. I was told that fleas breed in the carpet, not on the dog or ferret, so it is more effective to treat your house than to cover your pet with chemicals. The cans were black and orange, I think, and called "Vetkem" if I remember correctly. But probably you will have to get a different brand in the States. Morton made a similar flea bomb set, but it only lasted 6 months and did not seem as effective. We used to see the occasional juvenile cockroach with stunted wings wandering around after a stray egg case hatched, but they never grew up or proliferated, and if any fleas were brought home, they didn't stick around long enough for us to notice them. After 9 months we did have to repeat the treatment. It seems like it should be safer for us and our pets than using powders etc. Try to get it from a good vet if you can. Has anyone else heard about these pyrethrin bug bombs? Can you recommend a brand in the U.S. for ol' Joe? I am living in Turkey now, so I can't help. But I'll need to know when I come back home next year. Ta. ---Sue [Posted in FML issue 1245]