Well, it's been awhile since I've posted, but I would like to respond to some of the things discussed as of late. First of all, I would just like to say one quick thing to Mike Chaput who who seems to be in the hot seat right now... [Moderator's note: Sorry, the topic was declared "closed" to restore sanity to the FML, but I'll forward your comments to Mike and to anyone else who asks and the discussion can continue offline. BIG] Moving on to actual ferrets themselves, I would like to respond to Andrea's posting about pouting Peanut. Emily is our "pouter". Whenever she has been out playing and we go to put her back in her cage, she automatically climbs up to the second tier, and flops down right against the wall, letting out a sigh. She also puts on her weepy eyes and just stares at us. It is almost impossible to resist. Even if we are supposed to be walking out the door to go out, we always find "just ten more minutes" to let her out to play again. Talk about spoiled. In regard to what Meg said about considering to adopt another ferret after just losing one, I have to admit, getting Emily right after Nikki died was the best thing we ever did. Nikki died on a Wednesday; Emily came into our lives on Friday. Of course, this is entirely an individual decision, but I had a few things to consider. First of all, Nikki died quite unexpectedly; we still don't know how. She was playing all night Tuesday and was fine Wednesday morning at breakfast but when I got home that night, she was dead. The shock of her death greatly upset us. The other factor was Casey. Nikki and Casey were best buds; although Casey was younger than Nikki, she acted like she was Nikki's mom. When Nikki died, a part of Casey died too; she stopped dooking ( and rarely does now) and slept a great deal. It was unbearable to see her like that. So, we went to the pet store "just to look" because I still didn't know whether or not getting a new one would be a good idea. But, as soon as I saw Emily, I fell in love and took her home. I didn't buy her to replace Nikki; I bought her to ease my broken heart with newfound love and experiences with her. And Casey loves her. They wrestle and play all the time. Bringing Emily into our family was definitely a positive thing. My sincere condolences to all those who have lost a beloved ferret, especially to John. It makes me happy though that Nikki will be making some really great friends at the Rainbow Bridge and will not be alone. I'll tell her to look for Buddy. Love and dooks to all, Kristen and Chris Casey (the talented jumping, uh, flying ferret) Emily (the nonstop playing ferret who just discovered that Daddy does NOT like to have his toes bitten) [Posted in FML issue 1434]