I agree with you about ferrets being extremely perceptive to our pain. My Nicholas, who passed two years ago, would lay his body across any inflamed rheumatoid joint that hurt me the most when I got into bed at night. He would drape himself over my right knee, for instance, and lay very still for a minute or two, as if testing it. We know ferrets don't remain quietly still for minutes at a time. Then he would hop off the bed and take himself off to sleep in his favorite spot in the drawer. This happened too many times for it to be coincidence. And frequently different joints. Once I fell asleep on the sofa and remained there overnight. In the morning I felt him jump up on the sofa and because I didn't want to get up right away I kept my eyes shut. I felt him climb onto my chest and guessed he was staring at my eyes, seeing if I was awake. Then he draped himself flat across the left side of my chest and stayed very still. I can only guess he was feeling for my heartbeat. After a minute he got down and went on with his morning routine. I often wonder how so much intelligence be contained in those tiny little skulls. Lorraine Lordi [Posted in FML 7941]