Whenever we've tried to mix food, the kids seem to take a while to realize that it's edible. We've been going through this for a few weeks (read: all through the power-eating season) with our two with the addition of Totally Ferret to the mix. But they're adapting pretty well now, and a lot more of it is getting into the ferrets than on the floor; stick with it for a while! Joanne, hopefully one of the vets can answer better, but I think the general reccommendation is start having blood tests at around 3 yrs. One of Dr. Kupersmith's columns in MF mentioned this and exactly what bloodwork he reccommends, but I don't have the article with me. Think CBC was mentioned, not sure though. Finally, Annie's terrified of the vacuum - pulled her out from under the bureau one time and realized she was shocky. So now she goes in other room at vacuum-time. Goose ranges from indifferent to curious to "Goose, stop attacking that thing before it sucks you in!!" ;-) Whew! 1475 subscribers!!! --edman (Ed Atlee) [log in to unmask] Ed, Kim, Goose, Anastasia, and Maggie the Lab [Posted in FML issue 1349]