Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me about my fert and cat litter box troubles. To refresh the memory, both Moogie (the rainbow ferret) and Subotai (my Himalayan wonder kitty) had been exhibiting odd behaviors re: the litter box and urination recently. I took them both to the vet together this weekend to have it checked out. It was an interesting trip. Neither of them were caged, and both piled into my lap while waiting on the vet to call us into an exam room. We got quite a few double-takes from other customers. Subotai stayed pretty much frozen on my lap, watching everything going on around, and Moogie climbed contently on top of Subotai's back. Moogie cleaned both of Subotai's ears and licked him all over his face before settling down to a nap, still on top of Subotai's back and with his face hidden in Suby's neck fur. Subotai never paid one whit of attention to anything Moogie was doing! Very very cute. As it turned out, Moogie obligingly provided a urine and stool sample for the doc on the exam room floor. No blood, no problems there! This was especially good considering that I know for a fact that Moogie had a little snack out of part of a cosmetic sponge he filched from my makeup case last week. Moogie got a clean bill of health from the vet, who pronounced him between 1 & 1/2 to 2 yrs old. His fur is a little dry, but she said that an improved diet should help that. Also, he weighed 1.9 pounds and the vet said she'd prefer to see him around 2 to 2 1/2 pounds. Still, he's much heavier than when I got him; I'd guess he only weighed around a pound, then. So, progress is made. The vet also gave him an injection for ear mites; I had never heard of an injectable medicine for them. Subotai, however, tested positive for crystals in his bladder, with various "debris" and bacteria in the urine sample that they obtained. So he is now on antibiotics, and hopefully the whole family will be in good shape soon! Thanks for caring, Vickie ("Oh look at my cute little darlings everyone!") Moogie ("Hmmm...this is almost as comfy as my hammock at home. I'll have to try it more often.") Subotai ("I'm sure that if I hide my face no one will be able to see me... yeah, that's the ticket...") [Posted in FML issue 2412]