>... When Sugar passed, Taz tried everything to rouse her - licking
>her ears, nudging, and looking up at me like "please help; do
>something", before resuming her efforts ... finally she just threw
>herself down next to Sugar and rested her head on her. When I felt
>she had "accepted" it, I removed Sugar for burial.

I have really enjoyed -and appreciated- everyone's experiences with
ferret emotions. I, too, had a pair that was so deeply bonded that when
Sugar Baby went in for adrenal surgery, Remus crashed. We took him
through all the usual TLC, giving Biaxin and Amoxi for Helicobacter,
and I kept him in the recovery cage with her. He responded beautifully.

Both had beautiful coats, and went through a shed. Despite changing
bedding and pulling handfuls of hair out of their bedding each day
Sugar managed to eat enough hair to prompt her to regurtitate little
hairballs, and soon passed a four inch long mass of hair. I dosed with
hairball lax and carefully watched her, and all seemed to be fine.

Not long after, the pair went to a new home. Ther were only there about
a week, when the new family called. Sugar wasn't behaving right and
they were afraid she had chewed a piece of styrofoam she had found.
Knowing Remus and Sugar Baby's history, I had her bring me both
ferrets. Long story short, we took Sugar to surgery and found no
foreign material, but a golf ball sized friable mass on her liver.
She was allowed to pass painlessly (I hope) on the table. (The mass
was not there the month before when she had adrenal surgery!)

Knowing the deep bond between Remus and Sugar Baby, I feared the worst.
I took her body home and placed her into their hammock. Remus climbed
down from the sleepy box and crawled into the hammock with her but
immediately knew something was wrong. Joan, just like Taz, Remus began
trying to try to revive her, and kept looking from Sugar Baby to me and
back to her lifeless body. This went on for several minutes as I just
stood at the doorway and watched. Soon, he lay down on top of her and
just stayed there. After about half an hour, he went back up to his
sleepy box and I removed her body.

I feared Remus would crash and shortly follow Sugar Baby, but
fortunately, when the pair had gone into their new home, he found he
liked to antagonize the cat, and once back in his new home, did just
fine. He was able to move on.

I can't count the ferrets that have convinced me they do, indeed
experience emotions.

Julie

[Posted in FML 5512]