We've had Bonnie for 2 and a half years now, and just a couple of weeks ago acquired Clyde. Clyde is a fat, cheerful, no-smarter-than-he-needs-to-be 11-week old silver mitt. Bonnie is a siamese/sable who is brighter-than-is-good-for-her and a joy to have around. Except that she is anorexic. She has always been a poor eater and is chronically too thin. Her first response to virtually ANY stress (a cold, moving the cage, rearranging the cage furnishings, washing the ferret tube, getting a new hammock are all stress for her) is to stop eating completely, refuse all dry food,as well as her beloved raisins and cheerios. Because she is so skinny, she has nothing between her and disaster when she decides to give up food. She will not eat ANY kind of baby food or non-dry cat food. She does not like most of the foods that ferrets are "supposed" to like ... except raisins and cheerios and sometimes, a bit of peanut butter ...and will eat just a bit of Nutracal. All in all, barely enough to keep alive. After a while, she will reject Nutracal, too. We just went through a siege with her when she caught a cold, stopped eating, wound up in the hospital getting intravenous liquids and semi-force feedings of whatever goop they could convince her to eat. The cold wasn't the problem, really, because even after the cold was gone, it took her nearly a week to begin eating on her own again and now she eats just enough to keep from dying. When she's awake (she sleeps at least 20 hours a day and sometimes more, whereas new kid Clyde sleeps less than 10), she's active, funny, friendly, joyously and creatively destructive, and totally lovable. But she's not going to live very long unless we can convince her, somehow, to eat more. We were hoping that Clyde, who never STOPS eating, would inspire her, perhaps in the spirit of competition ... but it's not happening. Any suggestions? We can't force and hand feed her all the time. There must be something we can do to spark her appetite! Best from Bonnie and Clyde, the ferret friends, and Big Guy and Pookie, their feline companions. [Posted in FML issue 1326]