I'd love to hear more about how to do an official animal massage. All my ferrets love my version of a massage at times, and three of them (all boys) will lie on their backs with their paws curled on their chests and look at me seductively until I satisfy their hedonistic little desires. I started by rubbing their backs when they were sleeping so that I could enjoy petting them for a minute before they woke up and began to tear around. At first they were a little surprised and would get up as soon as they were awake, but all of them got into it quickly and all of them love to have their backs rubbed when they are waking up. Now about half of them will let me rub their backs at any time they aren't actively involved in something else. The absolute favorite technique is for them to lie on their backs while I put the fingers of both hands under them to both sides of the spine in the soft area between the ribcage and the hips. The like both rubbing and scratching. I also massage their backs with my fingertips all the way up to their necks and back to their hips. All of them also enjoy hard scratching on their necks and heads, and firm scratching around their shoulder blades. Find out what your ferrets like... especially if you crave more tender moments with the little squirmers. Blessings Judith [Posted in FML issue 3237]