This past Monday I recently experienced the first loss of one of my ferrets. Mango was 7 yrs old and died of internal complications, possibly due to old age. I knew it was going to be hard on me because she was with me for all her life. I also knew it was going to be hard on her cagemates, Pooder, Nestle and Sliver. When the day came for me to take Mango in to be put to sleep, I decided to take her "sisters" too. I had read that after the ferret passes, the others are to sniff her so that they know that she will not be returning home. I wanted to let you all know that this really did help my other girls. They briefly sniffed around Mango, and I felt from that time on that they were going to be okay. I always worried that when one passes, the other(s) would become depressed about losing a buddy. Ferrets need to grieve, too, and by doing this step helped not only me but my other fuzzies as well. Kim Tozzi Anaconda, MT [Posted in FML issue 5176]