I should make it clear that even though Maila is quite deaf, she has adapted extremely well. At first she was easily startled, but now she can tell when we are around, probably by the vibrations in the floor. She's still very rambunctious, and *easily* irritated (and she lets you know it). Yesterday, I was carrying her around in the crook of my arm, and had to go downstairs for something. She'd never been in the basement, so I thought she'd be interested in all the new sights and smells. Well, as we were going down the steps she peed on me! I looked at her and her eyes were wide open and she was clinging to me like Velcro. I went back upstairs and put her down, and she commenced the crazy weasel dance. Later, after I had washed up a bit, I tried it again. Same result. I've never before had a weasel up and pee on me. A couple other odd things about Maila: when the light hits her eyes just right so that they shine back at you, it's obvious that one is red and the other is green. When she's in the dark and stares in your direction she looks like a traffic light. She also runs in an odd way. Most ferrets I know will break into a loping, synchronized front and rear leg motion when they reach a certain speed. She just speeds up all four of her feet until they are a blur. It's hilarious when you're used to seeing the up/down motion of a ferret running, and then see her beelining horizontally with all four legs moving furiously. I have only seen her run "normally" once or twice. --- Randy A. Brown [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1577]