For Keith and Phoebe: One of the things that I did when one of my ferrets decided that another corner of the cage was better to poop in then the litter box is to put something in that corner. In our case it was the food dish, and since ferrets hate to poop near their food she stopped right away. For Wayne: We are attempting to retrain our 1 yr old about the litter box. I find that working in stages is the best. 1) start with a small area, like the cage or just one room. If they have more rooms to poop in they seem to just go crazy and are not able to handle the freedom. 2) Find all the hiding places where they like to go and make sure that there is no poop there. Then each day we check to see if he has gone in those places. If he has, we rub his nose in the poop and then take him and sit him but down in the litter box for each of the poops he has made in the wrong place. 3) At first, we also gave him treats when ever he walked close to the litter box. After he got used to that, treats whenever he stepped into the litter box. And finally when he pooped in the litter box he got treats. We also give him treats when the hiding place is empty of poop. By setting him in that area and then setting him in the litter box and giving a treat. All the time telling him how good he is. 4) As he gits used to one area we expand his boundaries and introduct him to the litter box in that area. 5) At this point we are also using the cage as a punishment. If he goes to the bathroom in his hiding place during the day, before we get home, he spends the next day in the cage. So far it is going pretty well. And he loves the treats, everytime he poops in the litter box he comes to get me so he can have a treat. I, of course, am more than happy to give him one. Now I have a question, I think it was Kimberly that found a stash of poop in her room. Well, when we started to retrain Zonker we found a big stash under our couch. How do you get those stains out of the carpet??? I spend two hours the other day with the Resolve and it looks better but I am starting to think that I will never get those stains out. Sorry this is getting so long, just one more thing. I have been reading about the Iams kitten food and I started giving my ferret that to eat. The other day someone told me that I should stop because they think that one of the ingredients might cause cancer. Is this true? I had not read anything about that so I don't know whether to be concerned or not. **************************************************************************** Jay "Was that a giant floral pucka that just bounded by?" [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] **************************************************************************** [Posted in FML issue 1266]