Y'all may remember me. I bought a male kit that I named D'Artagnan Alani about four months ago. Well, one month later, ferret math hit me when I gazed into the eyes of a beautiful sterling silver male kit. I couldn't resist. So now we have D'Artagnan Alani and Dimitri Apollo. Dimitri was so tiny when I bought him that I brought him to the vet the next day to get checked out. Sure enough, wouldn't you know it? The adorable little guy was only 4 weeks old instead of the 6-8 weeks that MF claimed him to be. (How old are they when they're neutered over there? Two days?! Good Lord!) I kept them both on Science Diet kitten food softened with water for a couple weeks then slowly weaned them to the solid food. So, now, D'Art is about 5 1/2 mos and Dimitri is about 4 mos. I've noticed that Dimitri is still quite a bit smaller that D'Art (about 3-4 inches) and his coat isn't as luxurious as D'Art's is becoming, although both of them have hearty appetites and play quite a bit. When will Dimitri's outer coat be coming in? Also, I've noticed they've been sneezing (that kind of cough/sneeze that ferrets have) more than usual and they've been scratching (they don't have any fleas, I promise). Any ideas on how to help them with this? I'm thinking the scratching is from dry skin (?) but how do I avoid this? I bathe them about once every 3 weeks. Finally, Dimitri is alot more skittish than D'Artagnan is....whenever someone goes to pick him up, he runs away backwards. Anything I can do to fix this? Thanks, Kris -- the pre-vet major Rex the golden retriever -- "SIGH... why are they climbing on me NOW???" Smokey the queen of the household-- "Get those smelly things away from me, a 90 year old should not have to deal with them!" Amber the black and white terror -- "HA HA, Dimitri! You can't get me when I'm on top of the fridge!!" D'Artagnan -- "YES!!!! It's time for hide and seek! Let's scare the heck out of Mommy!" Dimitri -- "NO FAIR!!! Mommy, make Amber come down and play with me!" [Posted in FML issue 2399]