Jennifer, I sometimes let the cage sit empty for a while until I can stand to dismantle it or take out the hammys. I smell them like you do. I also take out all things from circulation that remind me of the ferret that passed away, and put them in a Tupperware tote, so I can open it later when I am missing them and cry over seeing their things, and hug them and smell them (even though by then the smell is gone). I take their favorite toy or toys, and also put them up too, on a shelf so that I remember them, and their favorite thing, and why it was their favorite. It isn't the prettiest display in the world, and it has gotten pretty damn big in the last few years. But the ugly tennis ball, leather collar, and various kongs, football toys and other random items, even a dish I used to give medicine in every day - these are all up for display in my ferret room, a sort of shrine I guess. I also have a Cookie Monster doll that my Okojyo used to play with, and I got to bed with it every night. Am I nuts? Prolly. But I am still grieving over her. When a few of my ferrets passed away I used some polymer clay and made a footprint, and for months I would wake up and feel the pawprint. Over time I have stopped doing that. We also burn a candle at some point after they pass for them. I also bought a frame on the half-off sale at Micheals craft store, and made a collage of the different ones who passed away last year and gave it to my fiancĀ. It's good to cry I guess. We always will. There is something about the nature of ferrets that really does make them more our children than our pets for a lot of us, probably especially the people who can't have children. Yes, dogs and cats are great, but... the little ones seem to ravage my heart much more for some reason. Laryssa [Posted in FML 6225]