We have had similar problems with our ferts--they are on Mazuri now, but it has happened with other types of food. When we first got our babygirl Jasmine, she was our only fert. We were living in an efficiency apartment at the time--just one big room, so we could listen to her activity at night(My big macho man fiance who made fun of me for cuddling her so much that first day was totally hysterical that first night we had her: "Are you sure she's breathing? Maybe you should go check. Are you sure she's all right? I'm going to go check, just to make sure she's not cold or anything."). ;-) She wolfs her food sometimes, not chewing it at all, so she chokes on it a lot. (So does our other baby, Bear, so I guess it's not that unusual). It's gotten to the point that when we hear choking sounds coming from the area of the food dish, we yell in unison: "How many times have we told you--CHEW your food!" Then the choking ferret just gives us a LOOK and goes back to scarfing down food and choking, just to make us mad. Oh, sometimes they do get hairballs, and a simple kitten hairball remedy works wonders on ours. Cheap, too. Hillary & Jerry: "CHEW your food!" Jasmine & Bear: "Cough, choke, gasp, wheeze, etc...." [Posted in FML issue 1783]