Hi all, I must confess that my significant other and I "decorated" Bitty, our huge albino male , for St. Patrick's Day. (Okay, we colored his fur like the Irish flag.) Before everyone reading this post has a collective coronary, please understand that we painted him with non-toxic vegetable colors, and washed out any excess before he could lick it off. He was gorgeous, fluffy, and brazenly green , white, and orange. I believe he rather liked it... Should you be inclined to follow in our admittedly eccentric footsteps, I highly recommend Wilton paste food coloring. Very safe - used to tint icing on baked goods - very concentrated, and comes in about seven million and one colors. Remember to dilute, brush on (avoid eyes!), rinse,and marvel. Fades after about a week - two to three on albinos. Thanks to Jeanne Carley for her latest clarification regarding state policies . Yes, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has decided to accept the ferret as a domestic animal, but Jefferson County (home to 2/3 of KY total population ), requires a $75 per -ferret-per-annum fee. You may thank our lovely head of Animal Control, Eric Blow, for that. The fee includes a "house inspection" to ensure those ever-so-vicious prolific ferrets don't escape, develop language skills, and take over the planet. Seriously , though, they do require a house inspection. Anyone care to guess how many ferrets are legally "licensed" in Jefferson County ? Now to go a bit off-topic. I've been diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer. (Last went through this five years ago. I'm 28 now.) I'm doing low-dose chemo, and things look pretty good. The ferrets are an absolute life-saver ! It's completely impossible to be morose when there are furred ones about. My wonderful, chubby cinnamon Bullet is especially comical. (Thanks again , Linda Iroff, for bring us together!). I puked on him the other day, playing with him after chemo. We both ended up in the shower after that one ! What a good sport ...he even kissed me afterwards. Anyone have any stories of animals picking up on their human's illnesses? Please do tell. Much love from Kym and the Ever-So-Cherished Eleven Stinky, Katie, Rikki, Zoe, Pooh, Mortimer, Mortimee, Sabrina, Bitty, Bullet, and of course, Callie. [Posted in FML issue 2847]