When we got our most recent ferret addition to the family a friend said to me, "You got another ferret? I thought you would've moved up to a dog or something." He didn't say it maliciously but obviously without an understanding of the joy of ferrets. See, this is the order of our pets: First just me: 2 ferrets, lose 1 ferret to illness, 2 parakeets, 1 more ferret, lose 1 parakeet to illness Meet and marry my husband. Then: 2 cats, 1 more ferret. This is over a period of 7 years. I guess my friend figured we had moved "up" from ferrets to cats and the next logical animal was a dog. Of course, I don't see this as moving up or down for that matter. I love all animals and have been fortunate to share my life with some of them. Unfortunately, some people do have this hierarchy in their minds of which animals are "higher up" than others. Ellen [log in to unmask] Antony, Lexie & Babe (we may be low to the ground but we are not lower on the pet scale!) [Posted in FML issue 1882]