Steve and I were joking about my tendency to once again feel chilly now
that I am not having as many hot flashes anymore, and I replied something
along the line of "Even if the winter night weren't longer they would
feel longer.  That led me to think about the joke about doing away
with loved things for medical reasons which goes, "You don't really live
longer; it just feels that way."  And in turn that led me to wonder about
when we discuss way to elongate ferret live spans how do we also consider
the quality of life aspects as well as the quantity of life ones?  I
mean, with illnesses it is more clear-cut because you can judge when the
individual is reasonably happy and getting both quality time when you
provide quantity with surgery, medicines, or something else.  With a
healthy animal, though, the markers would be more subtle.  So, I was
thinking that it might be fun if we discussed the more SUBTLE markers of
satisfaction and joy in ferrets, ones that let us know that we are doing
the smaller things in life in ways which make their lives more full and
happy.  I'll bet folks here have some interesting stories on this score.
[Posted in FML issue 3957]