Touch is not actually a single sense, but rather a combination of senses including those that register cold, heat, touch, pressure, and pain. Each component of the "sense of touch" uses unique nerve cells, having different sensory structures at the receiving end. For example, touch nerves have an end that is elongated and bulb-shaped, nerves specialized for heat look like twisted threads, and pain receptors lack a protective sheath. A single "touch" may any or all types of nerve receptors. The exact location and density of these nerves vary with species, as does the proportion of different nerves within different parts of the parts of the body. The sense of touch is not just relegated to the external skin surface, but nerve receptors are found throughout the body, including those wrapped around the bones and within the teeth, in the major organs, and the muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Interestingly, the distribution of pain receptors in the gastrointestinal mucosa is very similar to those in the skin, making the entire gastrointestinal tract extremely sensitive to painful stimuli and irritation. The sense of touch is not just part of tactile awareness, but may be also incorporated into other senses or functions, such as balance. The sense of touch is intimately and inexorably tied to the perception of pain and discomfort. Historically, there has been an attitude that the conscious perception of pain and discomfort require higher brain functions, so while animals may perceive pain (the sensory-discriminative dimension) at the thalamus and lower brain centers, the interpretation of that pain (the affective-motivational dimension) takes place in the cerebral cortex. In other words, the attitude suggests ferrets can feel pain and react, but only humans could SUFFER from feeling pain. This attitude was extended into the realm of infant humans (possessing a still-developing brain), where surgical procedures were done sans the benefit of anesthesia or post-procedure pain medication (anesthesia was done to control movement, NOT to relieve pain, a common motivation of vets). Excluding the dogmatic diatribes of philosophers, modern research has shown such attitudes to be faulty, that both human infants AND animals not only feel pain, but perceive it at a conscious level as well. Coghill (1999) argues that "somatosensory components and affective components of pain can be experimentally separated" (p. 73), but that "current views that sensory-discriminative and affective-motivational dimensions of pain are processed in parallel by distinct neural structures cannot account for a number of aspects of pain." (p. 67). Additionally, various types of brain scans have demonstrated multiple parts of the brain interpret pain sensations, NOT JUST the cerebral cortex. Even more support is offered by Varner (1998), who presented a table of six conditions "relevant to consciousness of pain in the animal kingdom": 1. the presence of nociceptors [pain receptors]; 2. the presence of a central nervous system [CNS]; 3. whether the nociceptors are connected to the CNS; 4. whether endogenous opioids [pain killers produced by the body] are present; 5. whether analgesics affect responses; and 6. whether the behavioral responses are analogous to those of humans." Ferrets met all six criteria, but then, so do nearly all mammals. Put simply, while the idea that pain perception and perception of suffering takes place in different parts of the brain might be true, the idea that complex brain structures are required for pain to leave the arena of "stimuli" and enter the arena of "suffering" is not. Consequently, human babies are now medicated for pain, and the attitude is trickling into the veterinary community as well. Many vets are administering post-operative pain medications, and are increasingly aware that animals not only feel pain, but can also suffer from it. MORE vets need to read the research that shows faster healing rates, better outcomes, and less complications from pets receiving post-operative pain medications. Moving away from the philosophical debate on the perception of pain, there is NO doubt that ferrets can FEEL pain. Clip a nail quick or step on a tail and you know the statement to be true. Likewise, there is no doubt ferrets have just as "normal" sense of touch as any other mammal, humans included. However, there ARE some regions of heightened sensory awareness that can be exploited to enrich the ferret's sensory world. Ferrets are very facially oriented in that they have a sensitive nose, extremely sensitive whiskers, and tufts of tactilely sensitive hairs around their eyes and ears. Ferrets like to be touched, stroked, rubbed, physically reassured, wrestled, scratched, warmed (or cooled), tickled, and any number of other activities that stimulate the sense of touch. Fortunately for us, all of these can become enrichment activities, especially for ferrets living extended times in cages, or those old or sick or incapable of other enrichments. Besides the concept of enrichment, there is an ever-increasing body of evidence suggesting the positive responses to touch include improvements to the immune system, mental faculties, and longevity. Bob C [Posted in FML issue 4218]