I do, as bad as the subject is, want to comment on Paige's request to not slamming someone who picks a pet and then decides they don't want it She is very very right about doing the right thing. We put a lot of stock into committment to animals. The thing is a person can be committed to loving their animals and taking care of them. But not every animal works out. Pets are like people, they can have personality clashes with their own kind as well as the human, even with that human being an animal lover. You can bring in an animal you think is going to work into your home, find it is not working out, and decide to find another home. That is not a sign you are cruel. You have a life in your hands, you are not happy with it, it is not happy with you. Keeping it just cause you bought it IS cruel. A mistake is not a mistake til you make it one. As a comparison, it's kinda like a divorce - you marry, you say you will stay married, you live together a little and find its a meiserable relationship. You have a life expectancy of 82.6 years, do you live that life of meisery or cut the line where both sides can go find the one to live the rest of their life with. No one thinks divorce is good. They can understand it yet the same people can't understand why you give up an animal once you took it in. Well, life is short. My most cherished pets came from homes they hadn't work out in before. I am so thankful they came to live and share my life. None of that would have come to be if their previous owner hadn't had the sense to know to make a break. I myself have had to let a couple of pets go over the years because they were totally unhappy here - too nervous to mix with the others, did destrutive things to demonstrate they were unhappy, etc etc. I followed where they went to see how it worked out later and can honestly say EVERYONE benefited. So. There are always two sides to every story. I don't know what the side is to those who are cruel, thoughtless and mean, and I don't want to know. But I'll be darned if I am going to lump all people into that category when they have to do something I wish they didn't have to do. When there is a happy ending, we all love hearing about it and to me that is better than hearing thousands of pets are kept in homes they are not enjoyed in. Millie and her kissing, attention seeking, loving noble cleaning crew Easy Off: the most perfect ferret in the whole wide world Ammonia: I can dance as good as any old stuck up perfect ferret any time of the day. Cascade: Dizzy, oh Dizzy, where are you honey, I found mistletoe..... Ajax: hup one, two, tree, hup (next year I'm pulling Santee Paws sleigh) Dizzy: ssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh, Christmas is over in five more days, stomp on the mistletoe. Joy: Can't you say the word NO, Dizzy, No pain, no gain - Just say it. [Posted in FML issue 2531]