A few days ago I had a morning appointment so waited until I came home
that afternoon to let my fuzzies out to play. We have a new puppy too -
who just LOVES Alex (one of my DMK kids) and Alex LOVES Beau! They play
together all the time.

Well, anyway, we came back into the house when we came home from our
appointment. I had already closed off the doggie door before we left,
so I didn't bother to check it - BUT my other half pulled the steel
plate off the doggie door before he left to get to work - unbeknownst
to me of course. Well I let the boys out to play as I got on the puter
to check my emails for the day (I work from home). I saw all of them
running around for about 1/2 and hour. After another hour, seemed like
things were quiet, so I put their lunch together (they get a pure meat
diet I make for them, add some Salmon Oil and a few other vit's), and
then I called out "Ferret Lunch Time! Ferret Lunch Time!" as this gets
them running pack to their room - or just following me. ( I call "KITTY
AND DOGGIE LUCHTIME!" after the ferrets are fed) Well except for my
deaf boy Simon. I usually have to go looking for where he went to
sleep.

So I get three boys in their room and Alex is no where to be seen -
which is strange as he usually hears me open the fridge door and comes
running into the kitchen to lay on the floor and wait for me to get
their lunch together and he's the first one running back to their room.
I just figured he'd fallen asleep somewhere, but this was strange as
he's almost ALWAYS come into the kitchen when I open the fridge door
or is the FIRST to come running for lunch. I looked in all the obvious
places where the other kids curl up to sleep when they are tired of
out of their room play time. No Alex. Then I went onto the back porch
and discovered THE DOG DOOR WAS NOT SECURE! My heart went up into my
throat as it'd been quite a while since I'd noticed any fuzzy bodies
stirring - possibly and hour! I grabbed a squeaky toy and started
searching around the house. The garage door was open so I looked in
there too. Now we have 1.75 acres and at least 1/2 of it is backwoods
as well as all our neighbors. As I started to panic, I started
searching neighbor's yards and the woods and discovered my neighbor's
yards were just covered w/all sorts of places for a ferret to crawl
under - homes, sheds, old cars, large piles of wood, downspouts that
ran about 4 ft from the houses and even some PVC piping that went
STRAIGHT down into the ground w/NO cap on it and they stuck up only
about 2" from the ground level! I was getting frantic! I kept calling
and squeaking and was realizing how much area he could have covered.
I headed back home and immediately got on the computer and started to
make up flyers that I was going to take door to door as quickly as I
could to tell the neighbors. Just as I finished cropping the pic and
was opening Illustrator to make the flyer I turned around to check
behind me toward the screened in porch where the doggie door is and
HERE COMES ALEX RUNNING RIGHT TOWARDS ME!! I was never so GRATEFUL in
my life!

I have been owned by ferrets for almost 20yrs and I've NEVER lost any
outside! I did have a tough little boy, Samson, a few yrs back that
used to go out onto my parents catwalk that we had screened the bottom
in so they couldn't jump down and he'd somehow climb that screening in
a corner, run the banister and take a flying leap onto the roof!
Luckily he never got caught in the gutter, but once he climbed down a
large bush that stretched up to the roof and we found him under the
back porch! He came running to the squeaky toy and I never let them
roam around on the catwalk unsupervised for more then 10 min's. It was
amazing how quickly he could get onto the roof! We finally built
something that kept him from climbing up to the banister. But when
Simon would get loose, it'd be for only a few min s before I discovered
he was unaccounted for. Alex had been out for possibly an hour! WHAT AN
ORDEAL! I still find it amazing that not only did he come back home,
but he came back in thru the doggie door!

Then the very next day, it was very hot so I had the ceiling fans on.
We also have one of those old, round floor fans that the blade is
vertical to the ground so that it blows air upward thru a caging, but
there is still room underneath for a fuzzy to crawl under. I'd had it
running last yr and not a fuzzy would go near it - nor this yr. I was
sitting on the couch, a few feet from the fan when I heard a 'THUNK'. I
turned to see Alex laying under the fan - on his side - and not moving!
(OK - PLEASE don't flame me!! I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I
left that fan on - EVER - while they were out!) I jumped up and he had
a very small, very shallow cut on his muzzle. I was just worried he was
going to go into shock to I held him and was debating if I should rush
him to the vet. He was awake and responding to me, but a bit stunned.
No cuts inside his mouth and no harm to him anywhere else. I put an ice
cube on the area and he didn't make much of a fuss so I decided to take
him to the vet. Just then, he jumped up and rushed off. That was 3 days
ago and today the thin scab just fell off.

This little fuzzy gave me quite a scare the last few days! But it
reminded me to not be so lax w/the young ones and to always do a head
count every 15 min's when they are out of their room! AND NO FLOOR FANS
ON!!!! Also, I double check before letting them out that the doggie
door's steel plate is slid into place to close it off!!

Take care of your babies - I know I've learned from my mistakes and
it's made me REALLY appreciate my little Alex. I'm still snuggling
him and saying thanx that I didn't cause his untimely end because of
my stupidity!

Dawn, Socrates, Romeo, Simon and Alex.

[Posted in FML 6005]