Hi, everyone, The guy I've lived with the past five years and I are going our separate ways. All our ferrets have been together for that whole time, some since they were kits. Two ferrets survive from his original business, and five do from mine. The other two, a pair of now almost nine year olds that we adopted two years ago, are neither "his" nor "hers", but rather ours. Of course, the ferrets don't know all this. Anyway, he wants to keep his two. We've also decided that the two old guys stay with him since, in addition to be very bonded to each other, are very bonded to Tenchi, our dominant alpha, who is one of his. The idea is not to break up clear bonds if at all possible. Of course, it isn't 100% possible. Has anyone split a business like this before? If so, did any of the ferts become depressed moving from a large business to a smaller one? How can we make this happen and still keep all the ferts happy and healthy? I am really open to suggestions. For the record, I would have happily taken all nine, but he won't hear of it. He also isn't willing to take all nine himself, so keeping the business together isn't going to happen. I know in my heart that's what's best for the ferts, but like it or not, Tenchi and Ayeka aren't mine to take. All the best, Caity [Posted in FML issue 4204]