When it was "bed time" on Friday night a couple of weeks ago, I went to
hunt both Meep and Daisy and put them in the cage for the night.  I
couldn't find Daisy anywhere.  Meep quite often finds "new" places to sleep
but Daisy doesn't as a rule sleep anywhere other than her drawer in the
kitchen or in our dresser.  I really didn't worry too much about it as on
the few occasions that they are not to be found at bed time they usually
come wake me up in bed about 3AM, plus I had seen her about 5 that
afternoon.
 
Saturday morning I got up and realized that she hadn't paid me a visit in
the night so I was a little concerned that she had gotten into forbidden
territory and went around and opened all the bedroom and closet doors.  It
was also my older daughter's birthday and we had promised to take four
girls to the amusement park for the day so off I went, concerned but not
really worried as I figured we had just missed each other and she was
sleeping somewhere.  Throughout the day I got more and more worried
wondering about her and hoping that she would show up when we got home
that night.  We got home at 10 that night but NO Daisy and no poops in odd
locations (a key clue that Daisy has been somewhere she doesn't belong) or
on the newspaper where she usually goes - Then I really got worried.  We
tore the house apart until nearly 2 in the morning and still couldn't find
her.  By then I had a terrible feeling that she wasn't even in the house
and went through all the possibilities for how she must have gotten out.
We had only gone out of the house three times on Friday night and I
couldn't imagine how she got out as we have a pretty elaborate gate leading
into the laundry area and then a second door to the garage.  Finally I
decided that the only way she could have gotten out is to have climbed into
my cabinet, out a drawer at the top and into a packing box that I had
sitting on the counter (to keep ferrets out of it!) and that I must have
carried her out and added the box (plus Daisy) to the recycling in the
garage.  Meanwhile I keep getting phone calls from my youngest daughter all
weekend - she had gone to a football game out of town with my husband - and
I kept thinking that I wasn't going to say anything - it would turn out ok
(I prayed) and on top of that it was her birthday weekend!!
 
By Sunday morning I was SICK with worry as we live on the side of a heavily
wooded mountain and have just a few neighbors.  I was out in the woods at
dawn with a shaker and treats but no Daisy was to be found anywhere.  I
came back in the house convinced that she was gone, with all the thoughts
of her cold and scared and wild animals on the mountain........and how
afraid she is of the great outdoors anyway.  I decided I would call my
neighbors and let them know that she was missing because I wasn't sure they
all would even know what a ferret looked like but I really didn't hold out
any hope as she had been out of the house for over 40 hours.  And I kept
thinking how am I going to tell my little girl that her sweet ferret is
gone forever - on her birthday yet!
 
About noon I got a phone call from our one neighbor and he told me that he
had a small, white animal in his window well and while he wasn't sure what
it was he thought it must be somebody's pet.  I RAN over there and sure
enough Daisy was down in the window well and couldn't jump high enough to
get out.  She was pretty weak from hunger and fear and was as glad to see
me as I was to see her!  I brought her home and put her in the cage as I
was sure she was starving and exhausted.  She immediately went to the cage
door and wanted OUT!  She ran all over the house as if to say "I really am
home, I really am home" and then went to the cage, ate, and then out to the
kitchen and crawled in her drawer and went to sleep.  I watched her very
carefully for the next couple of days to be sure she didn't have an escape
route that we had somehow missed but she was fine.  Moral of the story -
check everything you carry outside for a ferret!  I am sure that is the
only way she could have gotten out and we could have lost her forever!  It
makes me shake every time I think about it.
[Posted in FML issue 2815]