>... When Sugar passed, Taz tried everything to rouse her - licking >her ears, nudging, and looking up at me like "please help; do >something", before resuming her efforts ... finally she just threw >herself down next to Sugar and rested her head on her. When I felt >she had "accepted" it, I removed Sugar for burial. I have really enjoyed -and appreciated- everyone's experiences with ferret emotions. I, too, had a pair that was so deeply bonded that when Sugar Baby went in for adrenal surgery, Remus crashed. We took him through all the usual TLC, giving Biaxin and Amoxi for Helicobacter, and I kept him in the recovery cage with her. He responded beautifully. Both had beautiful coats, and went through a shed. Despite changing bedding and pulling handfuls of hair out of their bedding each day Sugar managed to eat enough hair to prompt her to regurtitate little hairballs, and soon passed a four inch long mass of hair. I dosed with hairball lax and carefully watched her, and all seemed to be fine. Not long after, the pair went to a new home. Ther were only there about a week, when the new family called. Sugar wasn't behaving right and they were afraid she had chewed a piece of styrofoam she had found. Knowing Remus and Sugar Baby's history, I had her bring me both ferrets. Long story short, we took Sugar to surgery and found no foreign material, but a golf ball sized friable mass on her liver. She was allowed to pass painlessly (I hope) on the table. (The mass was not there the month before when she had adrenal surgery!) Knowing the deep bond between Remus and Sugar Baby, I feared the worst. I took her body home and placed her into their hammock. Remus climbed down from the sleepy box and crawled into the hammock with her but immediately knew something was wrong. Joan, just like Taz, Remus began trying to try to revive her, and kept looking from Sugar Baby to me and back to her lifeless body. This went on for several minutes as I just stood at the doorway and watched. Soon, he lay down on top of her and just stayed there. After about half an hour, he went back up to his sleepy box and I removed her body. I feared Remus would crash and shortly follow Sugar Baby, but fortunately, when the pair had gone into their new home, he found he liked to antagonize the cat, and once back in his new home, did just fine. He was able to move on. I can't count the ferrets that have convinced me they do, indeed experience emotions. Julie [Posted in FML 5512]