>So, into the bathroom sink he went.  To my great surprise, he completely
>relaxed.  He rested his head on my hand and just lounged in the warm
>water.
 
One (and only one) of my ferrets has a similar reaction to water (the
rest struggle to get out).  Clover, my oldest, goes completely limp and
just floats in it.  This turned out to be a good thing the time she fell
into the bathtub.  My ex SO's kids got out of the tub without draining
it, during the time I was busy attending to my ex who'd just chopped part
of his toe off with the lawn mower (accident prone to the nth degree!),
so the full tub went unnoticed.  After the ambulance came and took him
away (my SO), I discovered Clover floating motionless in the tub.  I
about had a heart attack, I thought she had drowned!  Then I saw her
bright little eyes staring at me, and I snatched her out of the water and
tried to dry her off (luckily the water was still warm).  But her little
legs started going and I couldn't hold her.  She flew around the house
non-stop for about half an hour.  I don't think she found her bath so
relaxing; she was freaked!  But if she had struggled in the water, she
probably would have drowned.  Perhaps the floating response is for
self-preservation?
 
Nancy and critters
[Posted in FML issue 4068]