HI all-- Maybe one of you Brazilians out there can help me-- does anyone know the Portuguese word for ferret? My nieghborhood is very Portuguese, and I'd like to be able to tell the old people what the ferrets are. Are ferrets at all common in Portugal? Rockin' ferrets-- I do something similar to calm Cully down. I hold him belly-side-up, with one hand under his neck and another under his shoulders and upper body. The rest of his body is supported by my fore arm. Then I massage him with both hands until he's yawning and floppy. Usually works like a charm to calm him down, and lets him know that I like him. And it lets me know that he trusts me (he's been acting so strange this morning-- he's been lurking in the closet and when he does come out his tail is one big bottle brush. He even let me hold him for a few minutes-- if I could figure out what's freaking him out I'd do something about it, but I have no idea!) Lick lick CHOMP-- both of mine do this, though it's more serious with Cully problem child. My theory on it-- once I watched Amelia do the same thing to Cully. At first I thought, wow, she's kissing him, they're finally getting along. Nope-- she was just matting down his fur so that she could really bite him good. Oh well. Regina (whose head is still spinning from Trainspotting) Cully, who isn't coming out of the closet today, thank you and Amelia, who says "see? he's wierd. You should get rid of him." [Posted in FML issue 1644]