Hi, Marie and all,
 
I don't know if I'm saying something here that everyone knows, and I don't
want to be an alarmist...but just in case: My advisor in grad school had a
cat that ate some cotton thread (or maybe nylon).  Several days later, he
had to have surgery to repair a perforated colon, where the string had
gotten hung up and rubbed against the inside of the colon repeatedly and cut
it (sort of like an internal papercut.)
 
I don't know what the signs of a perforated colon are in a ferret, but I
believe this cat acted just like it had a *really* bad tummy ache, and was
very lethargic.  Maybe some sort of abdominal cavity infection?  Considering
how fast things can go "south" for a sick ferret, you might want to keep a
close eye out.  This was news to me that this could happen, so I thought it
might be worth passing on, in case there are others out there with fuzzies
that have a taste for textiles.
 
     Cheers,
         Eric
[Posted in FML issue 1564]