I'm not too worried, but my husband is. Errata is "his" ferret, unless she poops under his desk, and then she becomes "my" ferret along with the demonic Francine, who keeps trying to bite off the moles on the back of his neck. Francine's just concerned, I tell him. She wants to remove the nevi for biopsy in case they're cancerous. Anyway, Errata has gotten huge. She tips the postal scale at over 2 lbs, up from her usual 1.5. To me, the reason is obvious. She has been eating like the proverbial pig for the last couple of months. Mark thinks the change has been sudden, but to me it has been gradual and attributable to her intake. To him, she's obese. To me, she's just plump. She's pooping fine. She's a little lazier than usual, but I think I would be too if I gained 50% of my weight. I feel no lumps or bumps around her neck and groin--just rolls of fat. She's not distended or bloated--the fat is pretty nicely distributed all over. Eyes are bright, coat is glossy and soft, she's scratching less than she did last year this time. Vulva's normal, no discharge. While she is shedding, there's more fur coming in. She's a late-alter, and will be 2 years old in June. I'd attribute it to seasonal change. She had a very nice winter coat, but she didn't gain much weight. In fact, she had been a little on the scrawny side since last summer. I attribute that to the high-fiber diet she had been eating--polyester fiber, cotton fiber--and the Linatone-flavored Vaseline I gave her to wash it down. I suppose, too, that she could just be filling out to a normal weight--she is a big-framed ferret. We had been caring for two foster ferrets before this change for the bigger in Errata, and a couple of months before had switched from Iams Kitten to 50/50 Iams/Totally Ferret. I think that having the foster boys here upset the routine enough to "cure" Errata of eating the blankets on our bed. Mark thinks that there's some strange hormonics involved--that she thinks she's pregnant and is now eating for 10. That would concern me, since it might indicate some adrenal involvement? As far as actually being pregnant--no. The certain conditions necessary for that outcome were not present, and I am not ready for a Mustelid Messiah. I also think she may be a little bored. The fosters were a great exciting thing in her life, and now we're back to routine. She's always needed more stimulation than does Francine (who, if given lemons, would make lemonade and then go on to develop a hydrogen bomb). Any theories that could put my husband at ease or alert me to a possible health problem would be appreciated. Francine would appreciate them, too, since she's on the losing end at the food bowl. -- Lee [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1905]