Please accept a huge thank you for the emotional support, ideas and offers surrounding Mini-Me. I was terrified I might be crippled permanently as bad off as I was for several weeks. There is no way I could bend to rescue the ferrets from Mini-Me as I usually do. Those few of you seriously thinking of taking her have more ferrets than I have, you already have a number of groups that do not get along, and you have worse problems with your back than I do.. Or you live out of state-too far away for me to drive. If Mini-Me did not get along with your few males-I would want her back. But I would not be able to drive to get her. The kindness of people on the FML could make the staunchest man cry, let alone a woman like me who cries at the end of ER every time. *THANK YOU* From all of this, it appears that I would be best for Mini-Me; unless I become as much of an invalid as I have been on a permanent basis. I was really hoping-as I wrote-for someone with just a few young, healthy male ferrets and no children, or plans for any. My very old Cheyenne is not going to live much longer. And Maria is an old girl with maybe a year or two left. She is adrenal again, but we cannot operate. She almost died the last time from the anesthesia. So I will not have to keep the Mini away from them all of her life. Waldo is no longer so irresistibly soft and silky. The pure fat is being replaced with muscle. His coat blew out and a shorter coat is there. He can climb up the sides of blankets and clothe stepping stools now. And today--he play bit me!!!!!!! This is good!!! He needs to be tough and strong to survive the Mini. He is not there yet---that is for sure. But things have improved. One critical thing I learned: writing about the problem on the FML, that I did not want to have exist, made me feel the impending loss of Mini-Me. It made me face the reality of the situation, and how serious it really was. It made me try harder to find a way to keep her-like taking the ferrets to a hotel. And because of my writing---you guys gave me the emotional support I needed while I was in such terrible pain-no matter what I had to do- Already-there are two critical changes. Mini-Me attacks Waldo. But she no longer tries to kill him. And now he knows he can fight back. I will keep working on this. The power of the people on the Ferret Mailing List: I do not know what I could compare to this. I truly don't. A problem shared IS a problem cut in half. And... The first step in attempting to solve a problem is knowing what it is-and admitting it. THANK YOU Lisette [Posted in FML issue 3871]