While my mom worked on the litter-box problem (other post), I worked on the problem with the food container. Pepita enjoyed food pucking and worker her little heart out every day to do so. I got so many recommendations of new bowls to use, from Croc-Locs to metal bird bowls. But the truth is, the bowl was not the problem. Any bowl, regardless of shape or anything, would have had its food pucked out. In fact, I think the bowls people recommended would have made her even more encouraged to do that! The problem, as a couple of people told me, was the height of the bowl (actually an L-shaped bin feeder by Super Pet, made specifically for ferrets). So I put it up higher. The only problem was, the bin could swing from side to side, as Pepita soon found out and utilized. This would still dump out the food. To solve this I took a padlock and put it on one cage bar, sideways, jammed up close to the feeder. The other side of the feeder is jammed up to a side of the cage. Now Pepita has to go to her toys for her fun, but it gives me a lot less things to worry about! No more cleaning up spilled litter (I still have to clean up "mistakes," but believe me, that's not as bad!), and no more spilled food. Phew! Well, at least I can relax until she figures out how to undo these "solutions!" :o) [Posted in FML issue 1797]