Hi All, My name is Tookie and I'm deaf. Even though I'm deaf, I can still read and I'm hear, I mean, I'm here to tell you that I'm a little upset about that post that says ~ and I quote ~ >For any of you on FML that do not have a deaf ferret-consider yourself >lucky. Think twice before taking in a deaf little one. What the heck is up with this??? My Mommy considers herself very lucky to have me, even though I'm deaf! She didn't know that I was deaf when she adopted me, but I can tell you one thing, SHE WOULD HAVE ADOPTED ME ANYWAY cause I'm sooooo lovable and soooooo sweet! That post continued to say ~ and I quote ~ >Who wants to pay good money for a defective animal?? I want to let you know that I may be deaf, but I am defective in NO WAY! I can do anything my brothers and sisters can do, so there! My Mommy agrees that deafness should not be bred but she does NOT feel "betrayed or swindled" in anyway! She is extremely happy to have me and she loves the heck out of me. I read her lips sometimes when she's telling people about me. She says she can't even tell I'm deaf most of the time, especially when I look at her right after she calls my name. I like messing around with her sometimes (she doesn't know that I can read lips, shhhh, don't tell her please). She knows that my other senses are heightened because I can not hear, so in some ways I'm actually a better ferret to have. Heck, at least I don't get scared and run away when my Mommy turns that vacuum cleaner thing on. It's sooooo funny to see my brothers and sisters run. Of course then they come back and play with the thing, I just don't see any sense in that. I'm not sure what you mean by ~ and I quote ~ >I cannot train my deaf throw away guys ... And I'm not sure that I want to know what you mean by throw away. I hope that your deaf babies were sleeping when you typed that stuff, I wouldn't want them to know that you said that stuff about them ... anyway ... I can tell you one thing ... I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM POOPING IN THE LITTER BOX just because I'm deaf ... you know I can still see, you see. On the other hand, one of my younger sisters without a "defect" in the world (except of course having a big nose, shhhh, don't tell her I said that either) can't seem to hit the litter box out of the cage. You know, she's a bit strange, she don't even look for a corner to go in, nope, not at all, right there in the middle of the floor for everyone to see, geese. My Mommy seems to think it's because she came from a cage that didn't have corners, it was round, talk about confusing the poor baby. My Mommy does worry a little bit more about me because I can't hear when she squeaks the ball or calls for us kids, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't have a chance in a loving home. See, there's no need to cry for me or any ferret that's deaf, we don't know the difference, we were born that way. Well anyway, I just wanted all of you to know that it's really not that bad at all having a ferret like me around. Dooks to All! Tookie [Posted in FML issue 3113]