This post does not concern nomenclature or xenophobia, journalism or nazism, live food or life after death, PETA or pet collectors, alternative remedies, or, thank goodness, baby talk. (Help me out here, I've only been reading the list less than a year...) No, this post may not even be controversial at all. Foolish, maybe... So, friends, what's the difference between a "dook" and, say, a "chuckle?" George's first ferret, Frieda, made this utterly charming "urr-urr-urr" sound, rather loud, very often, when she was happy or having an adventure. Sort of a chuckle. We always assumed it was the characteristic sound of ferrets. Chloe, one of our 2 current ferrets, makes that sound rarely & almost sub-vocally; we've never heard it from Ramon. However, both of them do this squeakier sound, especially when they are chewing on each other or having fun of that sort, more of an oop oop oop. It just occurred to me that that is probably what you mean by "dook," & not the urr urr urr thing, which is probably what you mean by "chuckle." Thanks for helping me to straighten this out. now that we've got the important stuff taken care of, we can get back to talking about trivialities, like life & death & illness & survival... ---sharin [Posted in FML issue 2653]