Hi, everyone, My brother and I spoke yesterday, and he told me a story which hopefully will balance out some of what we read on the mailing lists. We read about diseases, surgeries, mistreated fuzzies, and the like all the time on hear. What Gary told me, I suspect, is far more common. Gary's first exposure to ferrets was through his friend Brian. Gary hadn't seen Brian in a number of years, and asked if he still had ferrets. Brian's response was that, yes, his ferrets were still doing fine. My brother Gary was surprised by the answer, and asked if these were the same two ferrets he knew. Brian said yes. Gary asked how long ferrets lived, and Brian didn't know, so Gary called me. Brian's ferrets are over 10 years old, folks. They've been together since they were kits. If I understood what I've been told correctly, they have never had any problems, and are happy, healthy, and, of course, loved. We all post when something is wrong (like my Avon's recent adrenal surgery), but we don't post when everything is just going along fine. It paints a skewed picture, doesn't it? All the best, Caity [Posted in FML issue 2966]