Last message, honest! (I'm not doing much to diminish length today, sorry) In defense of BIG who apparently wasn't around to catch the comment, when he said `I don't think aspirin's a problem here' I feel confident what he meant was that it wasn't a problem *in pepto-bismal* i.e., there's none in there. I really don't think he meant it wasn't a problem in general. [Moderator's note: Thanks, Laura, but I actually did mean that I don't think aspirin is toxic to ferrets, as someone remarked. They are sensitive to it, I believe, but it *can* be useful in the proper dosages, no? BIG] As the worst offender in the length of today's issue, I'd like to comment on it. Believe it or not, I do what I can to make my comments short, and I'm sure most do. But when important issues are being discussed, it's tough. I think some of the suggestions mentioned are great, but USENET is almost certainly not the answer. Consideration, however, is. I think the best suggestion was good subject headings, which is what I tried to do today, and will continue in the future. But really, I don't think it's that tough to scan the issues for what we're interested in. For instance, although many may get tired of repetitive medical cases, sometime there are intricacies I as a vet student am interested in, particularly in the doctors' replies -- for me this is a valuable learning tool and if the doctors started replying only personally I would lose that. True I could go to a vet board for that, but to be honest they're no where near as fun to read, and certainly not as ferret-specific. I'm sure the same sort of situation exists for others who are interested in other topics. This list *is* getting big, and the issues longer, but since that means so many more viewpoints from so many more ferret lovers, I really don't see how that can be anything but good. Certainly well worth the time it takes to scan for the stuff I'm interested in! Okay, I'm done now! :) Laura [Posted in FML issue 1155]