Morning , all, After considering driving four hours to the nearest ferret shelter (trying to do the right thing), I found a baby to rescue almost in my back yard. A friend of my daughter's had bought a ferret a few months ago and then found that he really didn't have the time to give her. He had felt guilty about continual confinement, so had recently bought her a bigger cage. But, still... At any rate, I'd have taken her sooner, but Shiva had been in the last stages of adrenal cancer and I really didn't want to burden her with the presence of a new comer. In the mean time, Rose Anne's friend had started working at home and I felt the situation might have changed, but could not stop thinking about his neglected ferret. An email produced an immediate response. No, he just didn't have the enthusiasm for caring for an animal. Three days later, Rose Anne brought the little sweety home. The upshot is that, though she was not physically abused, she had eaten only cheap cat food and had no litter pan in her cage. She even came without a name. How sad. Integration went off beautifully. After Pixel dragged her around by the scruff of the neck a little to show her who's boss, the newbie fit right in. Because she was used to a variety of food--she got whatever was on sale--she took to the ferret food almost immediately, and will, I hope, acquire some muscle mass. She explored every toy and piece of furniture in my bedroom, which is where my babies live, and seemed not to believe her new found freedom. It seems she has gone from sensory deprivation to possible sensory overload! <G> That night when I went to check the girls just before bed time, all three were in the hammocks, two asleep and one staring at me from the pile. Her eyes seemed to say, "What in the world have a found?" Oh, yes, my little albino has a name now: Pearl. The guy we got her from asked us to please not give her some "cutesy-cutesy" name. Can you believe the nerve? I've emailed him to say that little Stoopnegal is having the time of her life! Peace-- Linda, the peon Pixel, the boss Noel, the Christmas Devil Pearl--"Wow---food and blankies as far as the eye can see!" [Posted in FML issue 2483]