Alexandra,

Thank you for posting about the dangers of wood stoves. I had a similar
experience about 10-12 years ago. At that time I had 3 ferrets that
had lived with us in the house for a number of years. In the winter
the wood stove was our primary source of heat and they had always
maintained a healthy distance from it. Silly me thought it was safe!
Then one day my little female Tippy was in one of her particularly
spastic moods and was bouncing everywhere. She climbed up on the love
seat, bounced once or twice and then took a flying leap off the arm of
it landing right on top of the stove. Even today I thank my lucky stars
that I was right there when it happened. I snatched her up, rushed
straight to the sink and did exactly what your husband did. And like
Ping she came out of it no worse for wear. Wood stoves are right up
there on the list of potential dangers.

Another possible danger is child gates. I have a gate that separates
my kitchen from my living room. When I am home it is always open and
occasionally the ferrets, while playing, will push on it and it will
close to the point where they only have a small opening to squeeze
through to get from one room to the other. To completely close it you
have to lift the gate and swing it over a bar that runs along the
bottom. Last night I was sitting on the couch trying to watch the
Amazing Race while the ferrets were racing around being very noisy.
Pipin and Loki were fighting over where the Kong belonged (Loki thinks
it goes under the light next to the TV and Pipin thinks it belongs
downstairs). Dino had been playing and had pushed the gate so that it
was partially closed and then Pipin decided to grab the Kong and ran
off towards the kitchen with it. As she got closer to the gate somehow
(I'm still not sure how this happened) the Kong ended up on the living
room side of the gate and Pipin was on the kitchen side with the Kong
still in her mouth. She started backing up and as she did the Kong
pushed the gate closed on her neck. There was no way Pipin could have
gotten herself out of the situation had I not been right there to see
it happen and run to her rescue. Tonight I will be installing a hook
on the wall and will use a cord to secure the gate to the hook so that
whenever it is open this doesn't happen again.

Barb
Alberta Ferret Society
http://www.albertaferretsociety.com

[Posted in FML 5580]