Well, I just relearned the lesson that there is *no* such thing as
"ferret proof."  I have a large (three story) cage I built for my
3-year-old female, Chaos.  I figured that it would be safer for her in
there at night and when I am not home than if she were running around
the house.  Safer, yes, but not completely safe.
 
When I was getting ready to leave for work this morning, I looked into
her cage and was surprised to see that she hadn't gotten up to say
good-bye to me.  She was moving around under the covers of her bed,
though.  Her bedding was a part of an old robe.  Normally, she sleeps
in an old sweatshirt, but I was cleaning it so I gave her the robe
instead.
 
Anyway, it looked somehow weird, so I opened the cage and went to
uncover her and pick her up, but I couldn't.  Chaos had chewed through
one end of a seam, crawled into the half-inch-wide seam, and gotten
stuck at the far end of it.  She had apparently been stuck in there
all night since the litter box was unused, but she had soiled the
inside of the tube several times.  She had tried to chew her way out
of the end of the tube, but wasn't very successful.
 
Needless to say, I had a somewhat panicky ferret squeezed into a tiny
tube.  Not a pretty sight.  The seam was too strong for me to simply
rip, so I had to get some scissors.  Now, this had seemed like a good
idea at the time, but then I realized I had to cut into a piece of
cloth into which a struggling ferret was *stuffed*.  I cut into the
seam, but not all the way through, to weaken it.  I then got a small
hole started so I could rip it open by hand.  This would have worked
great except that I made the mistake of cutting close enough to her
front end so that she could get her nose and part of her head through.
Now I had to push Chaos, who was doing her damnedest to crawl out
through the tiny hole, back into the seam far enough so I could get a
finger hold to rip the cloth.  Have you ever tried to push toothpaste
back into the tube.  I figure that would have been about as easy.
 
I got the seam ripped open far enough for her to ooze out.  Her back
end was covered in urine and excrement, so she needed a bath.  This is
not something that I would generally attempt when I am dressed in work
clothes and late for work.  While I went to change and grab some
shampoo, Chaos ran continually around the kitchen like a complete
psychotic, generally dragging her butt on the floor like she does
after she uses the litter box.  I gave her a quick bath (shower
really - I use the spray attachment on the sink), and she pooped and
peed while in the sink.
 
After I dried her off, she ran around for a couple minutes more, got
several drinks, and started to eat.  Since she seemed to be running
normally now, and eating and drinking OK, I decided to head off to
work.
 
This is probably the stupidest thing she has ever done, topping her
previous record of getting her head stuck in a cardboard tube and then
cartwheeling down the basement stairs.  Anyway, I just thought I would
warn people about seemingly innocuous bedding material.
 
Life is never dull with a ferret.
 
Frank
 
--
 ==============================================================================
Frank Weil | [log in to unmask] | phone: (708) 576-3110 | fax: (708) 576-3131
 
Interviewer:    So you are the camp co-ordinator.  What does that entail?
Venture Scout:  Well, basically, I co-ordinate the camp.
        - '8.15 From Manchester', BBC1 TV
 
[Posted in FML issue 0440]