First of all, I just want to tell you how very sorry I am that you are having to go through something so tramuatic for you during your time of loss. Having gone through two cremations in the last month myself I can understand the grief you are feeling, and certaintly the anger and confusion at the situation you are in. I am now a vet tech but worked in the family mortuary business and then later in an animal crematory/ cematary. I do not mean to upset you or make things worse by what I am going to tell you about the cremation process, but it will hopefully help you to understand what you are looking at. When an animal is cremated it's body is obviously heated to a certain degree for a set period of time. After that part is done, the remains have to be cooled down before the final part begins. When I say remains, I mean what is left after the body is burned. It's mostly larger pieces of bone that you would see. Then after that cools all the remains are put through a machine that grinds down all the pieces of bone and what you are left with is a rough type of sand. It is not unsual to see bits of color in the remains, that is nothing to be alarmed about. I would definately have to say as someone with experience in the field that your ferrets remains were not properly finished before being handed back to you. Honestly, never in my life have we ever given clients remains like that and you have a definate right to be upset. I really did not want to furter upset you. What I did want to do is make you aware of what exactly you were seeing and why. I have no idea why the hospital that handled this cremation chose to go about it in that way...It is definately NOT common practice as far as this buisness goes where I am from to return remains that way and I am truely sorry that you had to go through any furthrer upset in an already devastating time. If I were you I would question them regarding their cremation policy and after that I quess it is up to you to either choose to leave your babies remains that way or have them finish the process into something more acceptable to you. Just remember. no matter what you choose...You will always have your little one right there beside you for eternity. Please let us know what happened or if you want to please feel free to email me privately if you have questions or need anything ok? Try and take care of yourself and know that there are lots of people behind you in this tough time. Sincerely, Kathy Homan [Posted in FML issue 4484]