Okay, that darned Pepper of mine got out *AGAIN*!  Sheesh.  The kid forgot
to close the kitchen door, he hopped over the gate (doesn't even touch it
anymore) and scooted out the cat door.  We had yelling and crying (me
yelling, the kid crying) gnashing of teeth, rending of knees (kneeling in
pine bark chips peering underneath various neighbors' porches) and finally
frabjous joy when we were reunited.  *sigh* This is ridiculous.
 
This time he scooted right past the neighbor's doberman and went for the
back porch (I was at the front) belonging to THE crabbiest lady in the
neighborhood!  I was terrified she'd come out and start yelling at me!  O_O
The doberman tipped me off he was in the back (she kept jumping up and
peeking through the slot at the bottom of her back porch) and I coaxed him
through the slot.  The little poop had tipped over a huge planter and by the
looks of him and her back porch had probably spent the better of the last 5
minutes or so digging.  Eeeeep!
 
So now I'm looking for some small electronic device to attach to a harness
for this little escape artist.  I need something small that will emit a beep
and maybe even have a little light that flashes (he always picks sundown to
get out) so I can FIND the little devil.  I have given up keeping him out of
the rest of the house and that part is ferret-proofed okay (not great, but
okay ... he can't get outside or into the walls ... still plenty of havoc to
wreak with garbage cans, though).  I'm hoping for something that runs on a
watch battery and is small and light enough that he won't bite it off.
 
Any suggestions?  He's driving me crazy.  I go through seven kinds of hell
worrying when he gets out.  So far he's stayed to grassy yards, but the road
is near.  I've chastised the children (my daughter now thinks I'm an ogre I
guess) and I try hard to keep track of him.  Until I figure out how to keep
him from getting off the back porch, a tracking device would at least give
me a chance.
 
If I let him throughout the house, he seems to be less interested in getting
outside.  So with the new, tougher security measures (I threatened to NAIL
the @#$# door shut if they can't remember to close it), I'm hoping he won't
get out again.  Just in case, though, I'd like to have something that could
be helpful.  I've gone up and down my street several times now with him,
showing him to people, explaining how to grab him, how he keeps getting out,
etc.  But I'm still scared to death he's going to get killed.  He's my
favorite ferret (why do we love the tough cases so much?) and I would be
devastated if something happened to him.
 
--Barb--
tired and sore
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=-
Barbara Carlson                   Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
[log in to unmask]                                      (412) 481-5927
 http://www.gsia.cmu.edu/andrew/bcarlson/home.html (under construction)
Thought for the day:
    If "boring women have immaculate homes," I must be very interesting!
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=-
[Posted in FML issue 1652]