To Anon poster asking about bottlebrush tails after getting the sedation before the euthanasia shot--we will probably never really KNOW why their tails bristle up. This is for two reasons: 1. They are ferrets, and thus cannot tell us whether it is due to fear, or pain or something else (they cannot speak English). 2. They are euthanized shortly after this shot and are unavailable for comment. I can hazard an informed guess. When I was in college I took Human Anatomy and Physiology. The first lab was disecting a freshly killed rat. It was euthanized by being given an overdose of ether. The rats were put into a glass tank with ether on paper towels, and kept there until their hearts stopped. Just before falling asleep, they became very restless. Apparently there is an excitement stage just before a sedative kicks in. The nervous system revves up just before going under. Since an excited ferret frequently bottlebrushes its tail, it may be just a symptom of the excitement stage. I'm guessing that it's probably this, rather than pain or fear. My ferrets have usually been pretty honest about communicating pain or fear, and I didn't get the sense that they were feeling either of those. Melodyt and the nifty nine [Posted in FML issue 3306]