Hi,
 
    I was reading a post about teaching dogs to find ferrets.  Well, cats
seem to be naturally disposed to doing just that.  At least, my friends cats
and my sister's cat all like to find (or what I call constantly keep an eye
on) the ferrets at all times.  Whenever one of my babies takes off for parts
unknown in the house, the cat is always nearby, watching.  It makes my job
of finding them a whole lot easier.
 
    To Jen Lutton....I keep my 2 ferrets in a cage in an apartment while I
am at work.  When possible, I stop in on them at lunch time (more rare than
frequent), and they are always sleeping.  They have adapted to my schedule,
and are active at night when I am around, and sleep from like midnight-6AM,
and then from 9AM-7PM.  I am sure they wake themselves during the day, to
eat and perhaps play with each other, but I am pretty sure they catch up on
sleep for the most part.  On the weekends they come out w/ me, for walks and
visits to friends' homes.  I bought both of them from the same pet store,
and they have never been sick a day in their lives (one is 1 year old, the
other is 1.5 years old).  Before getting the ferret, I had a rabbit when I
was 12 years old, and 2 hamsters as an adult.
 
Good luck.
[Posted in FML issue 1293]