Too often we use the words love and hate without true meaning. Such as "I love ice cream". I truly like ice cream but it doesn't hurt me or make me sad if I can't have it. I do love ferrets, and it does hurt me to hear people verbally or see or hear of them physically abusing them (even if this is leaving them in cages too long). Love is gentle and kind. Nancy said she read on a site that Love never hurts, meaning if you really love someone you don't say or do things to them to make them hurt. I totally agree. Hate is difficult for me to understand. This emotion is so foreign to me I had to look it up in the dictionary (I kid you not) - an intense hostility and aversion deriving from anger. If you hate something it wouldn't bother you that it is suffering or if it went away or in the manner it did so, no matter how painful it is to who you hate. Now in my book, when you truly love someone (ferrets are someones not things), you accept their little ways and though they might be annoying they don't cause bad feelings, only minor annoyances. Ever wanted something very much then when you got it it wasn't such a big deal? When I was little I REALLY wanted the game operation. Well I got it and played with it for a short time then put it on the shelf. It just wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be (or should I say it wasn't much of a challenge) and I moved on to some other game. These games didn't have feelings and didn't depend on me. But ferrets are breathing, feeling beings. They are filled with emotions, are very in-tune to our emotions and they are very intelligent so not dealing with the issues is not the answer. Some think ferrets are cute and fun till... they are inconvenient or too much work for their lifestyle, or too much of a challenge. What some people don't realize is that they train them to be the way they are. If you don't keep their litter boxes clean, you are actually training them to use the bathroom outside of the litter box because ferrets are clean animals and many won't use a dirty litter box. If you don't give them a litter box in their cage, you can't expect them to use one outside of the cage because you trained them not to use them. When ferrets exhibit extreme behavior, there is always a reason. For the first 1 1/2 yrs Pumkin drove me nuts with his erratic aggressive behavior. But I knew there was a trigger and I finally figured it out and from then on it's been smooth sailing. He wasn't a problem child, he had a problem and once we solved it everything settled nicely into place. There are also ferrets that react negatively to being passed around from home to home. Some become destructive from frustration, and others become withdrawn thinking and feeling that they will never have a family of their own to love them. These types take a lot of tlc to bring them around and it isn't a quick fix. It took 9 months for one that came to me with the withdrawn syndrome and about a year for two that had the frustration syndrome. The more problems they have, the more I love them. I ache for them to be happy and well adjusted and in time, they are. Can you imagine my elation when Maxim played with me the other morning after 1 1/2 yrs of sharing my life and love? Oh he'd cuddle and kiss me but never before had he actually played with me though he had with others that would visit us. It was a long wait but the reward was well worth it! hugs to all. tle Troy Lynn Eckart Ferret Family Services http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/ Please sign up to support our charity http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=46&mid=58395 [Posted in FML issue 3588]