[2-part post combined. BIG]

Well, as some of you know, one significant reason (unlikely in the
eyes of most, but not of ferret lovers) that I am leaving my funky
little town is that I haven't found satisfactory ferret care.

Many of you also know that I have faith in my ferts' ability to come
home again after an escape, and as I read the latest FML post stream
about lost and recovered ferrets, I think that my many dog and cat
doors are an even greater aid to my ferts than I'd realized. They
learned to use them oon their own, so that is another suggestion for
people who own ferrets -- sort of the opposite of ferret-proofing,
since they can then get out of the house easily when they escape
their cages, but, on balance, it has been a very good thing for me.

Well, recently two of my fuurred ones broke for freedom and got a
chance to roam for a few days. Then, as a result, they went farther
afield, and then got CAPtured. Here comes the story. The names have
been omitted to protect the guilty:

As you can imagine, I am very busy these days getting ready for the
move to Addis in Ethiopia. Complicated by many health scares -- ahhh,
aging, not for the faint-hearted.

I left home in mid Nov to go to the SF Bay Area to check out my
BRrrrrain Tumor [GAwg, how cd this happen to me....]. I was gone 10
days and got good answers from a neurologist -- my meningioma, like
most, is almost certainly benign, and though it is the size of a walnut
[ooooo, gross. And they are nasty looking too-- there is a picture of a
ferret meningioma in Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents], it probably is not
impinging on anything, though perhaps those buzzings in the back of my
head are fr little seizures. [YUCK.] Well, the next test didn't find
seizures. But it is only 30% reliable. So I am homefree for now but
must retest everything in 6 months.

With good news/bad news/good news ike this, one wants to make the most
of life, you BeTCha. I continued with all my tasks and plans for the
move to Addis (w/ all my animals) to live with my good friends there
and start our sewing business. I went for broke and bought a long-armed
quilting machine to help us out.

I got home on the Sat night before Thksgvg, and Ada and Eric were not
in their indoor cage w the six others. It was cold out, and I doubted
they were playing in ther outdoor areas.

I called the petsitter and he said that he had counted them that
afternoon, they were all there, and probably they had fallen asleep
in an outdoor tube. Hmmmm. The next AM no Ada or Eric. My poor and
infuriating ptsitter lies when he feels he is under the gun. And he
is the best of the lot up here.

Next I went to some of my neighbors who said that A and E had been seen
runnng around on Thurs and then taken in by my next-door neighbors on
Sat. Their 2-yr old girl had been bitten.

Words almost, but certainly not quite, fail me. If seen by people who
know (and say they love them) on Thurs, why weren't they picked up?
If only the psitter had noticed they were missing on Thus... How can
people be etc etc... Wd the Health Dept get involved? Fish and Game?
This is a ferret-forbidden zone.

We neighbors talked about how to deal w the situation. Perhaps someone
other than I shd go talk with the neighbors and say that someone in he
trailor park had lost ferrets? But no, not practical. Shd I forget abt
Ada and Eric to protect the other ferts? No, no, not acceptable, And
so on.

Finally my petsitter took the remaining six ferts and hid them in a
shed at his house, and I went to talk with the neighbors who'd taken
in Ada and Eric.

Right away I was greeted with "We found something of yours! Someting
white and fluffy!" So I rejoiced and we rejoiced together-- Ada is a
DEW. They had thought I had already left for Ethiopia. Ada had showed
up at their house first, and then Eric. They had given Eric to a
friend, but they'd get Eric back for me that night.

Meanwhile Ada was hiding under their couch. I coaxed her out. She was
filthy and terribly thin, but she came to me and lay in my hands as
though she were utterly exhaused. A couple of minutes later she perked
up, wiggled around, gave me a few kisses, and then settled down in my
hands comfortably. When I took her away, the little girl cried becasue
she wanted her "kidlet."

I had had Ada examined for adrenal the week before I'd left, because
she had been getting thin and her hair was sparse. Now her hair was no
worse, but she was almost emaciated. And though her hair was no worse,
all her buddies had develped the most beautiful soft lush long coats
while I'd been gone, and last winter hers was one of the most
beautiful.

So off to the vets on Mon, and blood was drawn to check for adrenal.
No results back yet, but since then Ada has put weight back on and
her coat is filling in quite a lot though nothing like her freinds'.

Meanwhile about Eric. The woman who had him did not answer my
neighbors' calls, and my neighbors did not go to see her (another long
story for another time), and then Thanksgiving came along and all bets
were off for a few days since my neighbors went away and would not
give me the contact info for the person(s) who had Eric (more of same
story).

Then the holiday was over, and still no results. I began to think the
mystery people had thrown Eric out -- he can be a biter when upset.
Far from home he would be forever lost, at least to me.

Well, after a good deal of coaxing and badgering, and after I paid a
small sun "for gas," my neighbors did retrieve Eric. It turned out
that the young woman who had had him had wanted to keep him and was
going to say he had run off so she wdn't have to give him back. But
her mother, who works in a pet store, didn't want a ferret around.

When I went to get him, Eric was hiding under the couch, and again I
did my coaxing best. He was harder to apprehend, but I was persistent
and gentle. A few seconds after I had him out, he gave me a good hard
bite.

When I took him away, what happened? the little girl cried becasue
she wanted the "kidlet." I am glad her parents can't afford to buy a
ferret, but father said they would give her a kitten and looked over at
me -- I have three to give away or I will need to bring them with me to
Ethiopia. I pretended not to know what was meant. She is a dear little
girl, but the household is not one for a small pet. The young woman
will have her second child in two months, the man is unemployed and
yells a lot at the woman and child, the woman doesn't want any pets
now. She tells me she is overwhelmed.

The psitter has not made much of an apology. Eric has stopped biting!

I leave for Ethiopia in mid Dec. I had planned to leave today, but
I've had to change pet-shipment people, and the new outfit (Animal
World) needs a couple of weeks to get things together. MOre later
about this!

[Posted in FML 5805]