Hi! a question from me, and an anwer to Mason :
 
Yesterday when I was mopping the kitchen floor, the Woozle snuck
up behind me, and launched herself into the bucket of soapy water.
She was only in the bucket (with a "non-toxic" detergent) a second before
I plucked her out, and I rinsed her off immediately in the sink. Aside from
being a very unhappy Woozle for about 20 minutes, she seems fine.
Is there any ill effect I should watch for?
 
To Mason, who asked about ferrets and parrots--
 
I have one (extremely clean) ferret, two parrots, and three cats. To the
parrots, the ferret is just one more small mammal to watch suspiciously.
The ferret is much more interested in the peanuts the parrots drop than in
the birds themselves. One parrot mimics the ferret's vocalizations (but much
louder; it's a bizarre sound) and calls to her: "Woozle! Oh Woooozle!"
In my opinion, adult cats might be more of a threat to a naive, young parrot.
(My parrots are crusty old birds that snap at cats when they get too close,
and both birds are relatively large--an Amazon and an African Grey.) I don't
doubt the FML'ers who report that their ferrets are agressive with other
species, but this hasn't been the case at my house. It seems to depend on the
individual critters. The key is to watch them closely, and err on the side
of over-caution.
Good luck with the growing menagerie!
Rebecca Clayton
[Posted in FML issue 1077]