Greetings and "happy holidays" to all of you! I'm from Northwest Iowa and last week my husband 'rescued' a mistreated ferret from someone's garage. The critter had simply been underfed (cat food, I think) and not cleaned or played with; but evidently no one had tortured her, for she trusts us utterly and hasn't bitten YET! She appears healthy and is the sweetest little thing! She will visit our Vet for shots, and a wellness check this afternoon. Hopefully the Vet will be able to estimate her age, with being so underweight she's hard to guess! Anyway, I just wanted to let you ALL know that this being my first ferret, I was totally uneducated until I stumbled onto this link on the Net. I can't say enough about how the way each of you writes has impressed me! We try to read this every day, Hubby and I laugh over some of the stories, and privately weep over the eulogies for the dead as well. EACH of you have helped to 'train' me... to learn the correct methods to handle our little bundle of love, and how to 'ferretproof' as best we can. Thanks for being there!!! Kim Latas Wendell Hansen and "the unnamed baby" Spirit Lake, IA [Posted in FML issue 2140]