Just when you think your house is finally ferret-proof....
 
     We visited relatives last week in Washington D.C., leaving our menagerie
in the care of a  vet tech friend.  As I was putting away ferret treasures
hidden in the couch before we left, I saw that 'Possum's face was really puffy.
 The poor guy looked like he had a terrible toothache--he was drooling and
tearing and he winced whenever I touched the left side of his face.  On further
investigation, we found that his gum was bloody, but we couldn't find out any
more because he *hates* to have his mouth messed with.  So we took him to Dr.
Wickizer, who thought he had an abcessed tooth (he's the one with the clipped
off canines) and left him for the week =( =(.  It turns out that he actually
had an infected puncture wound in his gum, but now he has nice clean teeth
anyway for good measure.  I hate to think what would have happened if he hadn't
been treated for another week--he couldn't eat anything like that.  He's still
sleeping all day, but he did get up for a couple of minutes yesterday to
roughhouse with Bandit =).  The great part is that the whole treatment (5
nights boarding, tooth cleaning, treating the gum, antibiotics, exam, etc) only
cost us $90!
 
     Then last night we had another scare.  I was cooking babecued ribs and the
room was getting kinda smokey, so I opened our sliding glass door to the
balcony (the screen door was locked).  Later, when I went to put up Bandit and
Felix, I couldn't find them anywhere!  I checked the couch, the trash, the
laundry bag, even the toilet, but couldn't locate them.  Finally I had a
terrible thought and opened the sliding door again--there they were, cavorting
away on the third story balcony!  I'm *so* glad that they didn't jump off the
edge!!
 
     So, the upshot is that we're getting a new used couch with wood legs and
no springs, so 'Possum can't hurt himself, and we're going to bribe the
maintenance man who knows about the animals to fix the screen door.
 
     I know this is getting long, but I want to give our rationale for keeping
ferrets in an FFZ.  We moved to Columbus with 5 carpet sharks, and we made
finding an apartment that allowed them our absolute first priority.  They are
members of our family, and we would have transferred to a different city if we
couldn't have kept them in Columbus.  Fortunately, our manager didn't care.  We
have since then picked up two more guys [and lost two =(] from people who
didn't want them anymore.  The mink, another illegal immigrant, we got as an
orphan, but we would never give her up either.  I don't really worry about the
sharks being confiscated (note the lack of anon status), but we do have to
drive 90 mins. to get to a vet who knows ferrets.
 
Good luck to everyone and your weasels--check that ferret-proofing one more
time for me!
 
Laura McDonald and the Sneaky Six
(Bandit and Possum say hi to all the other Bandits and Possums out there!)
 
[Posted in FML issue 0773]