>From: BUFFY <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Soft Coats? Don't confuse coat condition w/texture. Coat condition & density is affected by nutrition, cleanliness, if the fuzzy rolls around in the litter box, & time of year. You can try changing the diet to one of the foods the more experienced ferret people suggest, like IAMS, Totally Ferret, ProPlan, etc., & supplement a little more oil in the diet. Use a shampoo recommended for ferrets or kittens & brush the coat to stimulate the oil glands. I don't know how to discourage rolling around in the litter box which can make the fur feel very coarse & brittle - I use newspaper. Change of season is something we just have to live with. When they blow their coats twice a year some of them look like they've been attacked by moths! But after you've done all these things, if you don't see a change, that's the texture of the fur your ferret is genetically predisposed to. It's no different than my having the wildest curly-kinky hair & my husband having smooth manageable hair. & it's the same for the rest of our families who have the same kind of hair respectively as we do. My hair is curly because my parents' was & he doesn't for the same reason. I'm not a breeder or a geneticist. I have had lot of ferrets come through my home though, many to stay. No matter how much better their diet or environment became, some coats remained coarse. Their coat texture has no bearing on the kind of ferret they are - personality or health - anymore than my hair does for me. I wish all my fussies had soft luxurious coats. I also wish I had hair like Julia Roberts! *************************************************** For those of you who get the relatively new *Animal Planet* channel. There's a new show called "Vets' School." It's a documentary-type show about several students going through veterinary college in England. What does this have to do w/ferrets? you ask. Well, the lead in clips to the show feature a vet student & the owner of 2 (3? it was hard to tell) ferrets trying to get them back into their box - like shoveling water! Both of these guys are laughing hysterically. They cut back to them cramming the fuzzies into the box 2 (3?) times. So I think we can expect to see woozles on this show. I e-mailed them for the show's schedule . It isn't posted on their program guide yet. I just happened to catch it as I was turning off the TV - at midnight. Like most Discovery programming, I hope it has a more convenient time slot. I also told them about the large audience they have waiting to see some features about ferrets. The Animal Planet homepage is <http://www.animal.discovery.com/> w/links to the programming guide & viewer input. Juliana [Posted in FML issue 1867]