Last night I was scheduled to baby sit at 7:15.  Cool enough, really like
the whole family... But I had taken Tess, Shiloh & Amadeus for a romp in
the yard.  When I got back in I discoved my answering machine blinking,
so I played the message while taking harnesses off the little, dirty, and
seemingly tired ferrets and putting them in their cage.
 
The message on the machine indicated that my friends had miscalculated when
they told me to come at 7:15 and that they needed me as soon as possible...
it was now 6:40 and their house is a 20 minute stroll for Tess to sniff or
a 10 minute double time march.
 
By 10:15 I was home...happy to think that I could catch 15 minutes of
M.A.S.H. and maybe some other sit-com while I let Shiloh and Amadeus play.
As soon as I opened the door I noticed things weren't quite right.  A bag
of pip cleaners were in the hallway, the waste basket from the bedroom was
on it's side.  When I went into the bedroom to straighten the basket I
discovered that my set of stackable dogs were on the floor, Tess's
flexi-lead was on the far side of the bed (20' from it's usual place by
the door).
 
With trepidation I approached the cage.  In my hurry to leave I'd closed
the upper level door where I'd gotten Amadeus out earlier, but the bottom
level was open, w/ bedding spilling onto the floor.
 
Neithr fuzzies were snoozing in the cage!
 
I grabbed a plastic tub of a food that I can't always find for sale here in
town (which I keep as a treat for them) and began walking slowly around the
apartment shaking it.  In the meantime I asked Tess to find her brother and
sister.  She found Amadeus peeking between boxes in my closet.  All I had
to do was lean down and tap the floor and he came to me.  So I had the
tough one down.  Amadeus is deaf, and he's the reason my two don't have
access to my whole apartment.
 
I carried my boy around w/ me for awhile, but decided to put him in the
cage--where he dashed to the food bow.  Then I continued my quest to lure
Shiloh away from any treat that had her interest or waken her from any
place she might have found herself trapped (she got in my clothes hamper
last week, and her response to the "treat" tin aided in her rescue).  I
slowly went from room to room shaking the can.  It only took 1 1/2 circles
before I saw her bouncing into the hallway from the bedroom.
 
I leaned down and she bounced into my hands.  She promptly began digging at
the treat tin...which I opened and she ate, and ate, and ate.  I decided
to reward Amadeus for coming to me even more than the cuddling he'd gotten
previous to being re-caged because after seeing Shiloh's response to the
treats, I decided to give him a handful, too.
 
Talk about two very hungry ferrets.  They were so busy playing for alll
that time (or sleeping, perhaps) that they were desparate for food.
Usually they go back into the cage on their own to eat, but for some
reason they felt their quest was more important than food and water.
 
I don't know what else I'll find...will there be a booby trap somewhere
in the closet, will I find more dishes from the kitchen sink pulled out
of sight (yes, Shiloh has figured a way onto the kitchen sink), will I
discover that Tess's 16.5# bag of food in the closet by the cage?, will
they have finished the jigsaw puzzle Shiloh had pulled out of the closet
and had worked so hard to open the previous day?  Only the FLO knows for
sure!
 
Pat, Tess, Shiloh, and Amadeus
[Posted in FML issue 2634]