A BIG thanks to BIG on his suggestions for fixin' my telcomuunications
problems!  Things work lots better, faster, and with less foulups.  If you
use a Mac, ask about his suggestions; they really work.  Unfortunately, I
still have server problems (they are getting better) and have lost my last
few fml posts.  They just disappear into the ether.  Things are supposed to
be fixed over spring break.  But I gave up and bought an AOL account if
things really get fouled up.
 
Regarding Urine Licking: This is quite common in mustelids and is usually
males doing the deed, and has been reported in ferret literature.  Its
mostly a sexual behavior, with males licking female urine.  But not always;
males can lick their own or other males, and sometimes females will engage
in the act.  I have read that it ocassionally occurs in neutered males; I
wouldn't worry about "bad fixing"--if you don't see them, they don't got
them.  However, I HAVE wondered if it might be related to increased hormone
production by the adrenal glands--they also secrete small amounts of
testosterone as any post-menopausal woman with facial hair will testify--
because of stress, something new in the environment, or disease, etc.  As a
single symptom, I wouldn't worry about it.  I would, however, watch for
other symptoms of a more dangerous nature.
 
Regarding feelings in animals: Sure, animals have feelings.  They display
fear, anger, compassion, curiosity; in short, about the same range of
feelings that humans have.  Its not anthropomorphizing IF you realize that
humans have human feelings, and ferrets have ferret feelings.  What the
ferret (or ANY creature) feels is relative to its species.  While research
may ultimately find their feelings may correlate with our own, and I think
it will, that is not yet the case.  I have a dear friend working on finding
emotion centers in the vertebrate brain, and she has told me that the
destruction of certain regions of the brain will alter similarly expressed
emotions of most mammals.  (I will not give her name because she does NOT
need hate mail from people protesting animal torture.)
 
IMHO, most humans have never understood that we are just a chipped stone
tool away from the rest of the animal kingdom (actually we ARE part of the
animal kindgom; we just use chipped stone tools instead of big teeth and
claws).  Our emotions are part of a continuum that contains the emotions of
all other animals.  Not all animals have all our emotions, and certainly we
may not have some expressed by other creatures.  So its appropriate and
accurate to say that the ferret seems pissed; but it's inaccurate to say it
gets pissed for that same reasons I (or any other human) get pissed.  There
is a downside to realizing this.  If you accept that an animal has feelings,
and has the right to display them as they were designed to display them,
then you can't get mad if they dig your carpet or drag each other around the
room, or mark their territory with poop.  In other words, ferrets are
ferrets, and ya gotta luv em fer wat dey are.
 
Bob and the 13 Jerky Lovers
[Posted in FML issue 1501]