Loni's account in yesterday's FML of her ferret Dot's visit with her mother was very moving. She ended "When we lose a furkid, we hurt. Of course it must hurt them to lose one of us, too." This isn't ferret-related, but I was reminded of a poem by Wislawa Szymborska, the 1996 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature. It's called "Cat in an empty apartment". An English translation may be seen at: http://redfrog.norconnect.no/~poems/poems/00306.html One thing we haven't talked about on this list (at least in my tenure) is what happens to our pets when something happens to *us*. How should we make sure that they are provided for in our temporary or longer absence? -- Lee [Posted in FML issue 1892]