To the person who seems to have a business growing/tending expensive houseplants, or else a passion for same: Try cutting circles of screen (with a hole for plant stems, and a through-cut and wire to slip on and attach) and bending the edges over the pot rims. LARGE (large enogh to not be injested) rock mulch can also be used. For orchids and the like hanging planters combined with deflectors on any nearby heating/colling vents will work. They don't chew on most plants, but I have a few do so on rare occasion with banana plants. Someone elase asked quite a while back about using ferret waste in mulch. If chicken stuff can nitrogen burn imagine how much any waste of a meat-eatting Carnivora member can. (When in doubt about this kind of thing call your county Extension Service.) Ruffle made it through another night; I'm not sure yet if I have. When I sleep enough to have a difference between sleeping and waking I'll know. All (non-joking) nonsense aside, we had to up her Lasix yet again after the start of another congestive heart failure episode last night. Each one comes on more rapidly and more severely so I doubt she'll be around till week's end. Today is Steve's birthday; I so want her to have today as a good day. We all suspect that she would have done better if she could have paced herself, but even when we imposed rest periods she would at times tantrum and wear herself to a frazzle. Still, we suspect that hiatuses of careful caging which forced rest periods have done a great deal to keep her as happy, comfortable, and alive as she still is. Meltdown is different. She paces herself and is excellent at it most times. When she's looking like she'll push too hard we put her in. Guess what? She has turned out to be what in weight-lifting is called a hard gainer. She has MORE muscle mass than now than she ever did before. She just needed more rest in between exercise bouts in which muscle could grow. Perhaps this might be true for a good number of other ferrets. If so, then careful caging with short exercise periods for a rehab strategy from illness, injury, surgery, and malnutrition might be able to speed recoveries. There is work from the 60s and 70s in primatology on the socially cohesive and life saving (especially for for juveniles) aspects of yawning since it tends to impose mutual sleep periods. (Ever notice that you get tired when other yawn?) We've wondered if the sleep smells might serve a similar function at this point. Ther certainly are relaxation aspects for many ferrets of anything which romotely resembles a scruff. (Some other yawn functions include display and eye-moistening.) It's wonderful that N.J.'s FG and W is so positive for ferrets and used to materials gotten to them (Thanks Katie, Troy-Lynn, Dick, and Pam who regularly send such to me so I can pass it on. Do you have the latest shedding one yet? Also thanks to our NJFG&W which DOES pass such info on the health department in hopes that all will learn. That's the good news.) In relation to the horrible news: if the judge's decision was based on misinformation from the health department one approach may be to send your legislators (Andrea, could you, please, do one to Jack Ewing who is a reasonable soul since we can't manage much in the way of literacy till our situation begins permitting sleep again -- right now I keep seeing double in bouts and listing to the side, and mean right now --this is hard.) and Gov. Whitman(n) a letter based on factual data and stating very clearly that you wonder why the health department is undermining its own effectiveness, since the dissemination of misinformation undermines how effective they would be if an statewide health emergency of any type required their help. Got to lie down next to Ruffle's cage and sleep. Sukie [Posted in FML issue 1606]