Saturday night, and Buddha was nowhere to be found.  We put the other 7
kids in their room for the night, and proceeded to tear the house apart.
No sign of him.
 
Sunday morning, my next-door neighbor Kelly spent hours on the phone
calling animal control and every shelter in town.  A dozen of my
neighbors and their kids looked for Buddha all day.  I plastered the
neighborhood with flyers, put a 4 foot sign at the end of our cul-de-sac,
and an ad in the paper.
 
Monday, pretty much the same.  We tore the house apart again.  We were
all going out of our minds.  Around midnight, we were getting ready to
go out and finish the shopping we had neglected while searching for our
baby.  As we were headed out the door, my hubby heard a faint scratching
sound.  We both froze, too scared to get our hopes up.  We went into the
laundry room, and saw a flash of fur- but it was Bagheera, the cat.  He
was beside the washing machine, pawing at something.  I started yelling,
"PICK UP THE WASHER!" Or something like that.  My dear sweet hubby did,
actually PICKED IT UP and held it....
 
And my poor little Buddha crawled out from underneath.
 
We have no idea how he got underneath the washer, (less than 1"
clearance), or how long he was actually there.  I looked there when we
were searching the house, and in a lot of other places a ferret
"couldn't" get.
 
Buddha drank a little pedialyte, grabbed a mouthful of food, and headed
for his favorite hidey hole.  Ten minutes later, as if nothing had
happened, he was dancing around and playing with the puppy we are
dogsitting.
 
My hubby and I are so incredibly relieved.  All I wanted for Christmas
was our little baby boy to come home.  Knowing he never left, now we feel
ashamed.  Nothing like a good scare to tighten up lax ferret security!
 
On the bright side, now we fully appreciate how truly wonderful all our
neighbors really are, especially Kelly, BLESS HER HEART.  We also made
two new friends, previously unknown ferret-people in our own neighborhood
who called to offer help and sympathy.  I LOVE ferret-people!
 
On the even brighter side, during our search we turned up a little boy
who had been at a city shelter way too long.  Kelly already had a bad
case of ferret-math...she went to the shelter as soon as they opened,
armed with treats and a blankie, vowing to find him a home...hopefully
hers.  The shelter worker was ecstatic when Kelly said she wanted the
fuzzy, sight unseen.  She could tell he would be well cared for, and she
had been so worried about him.  She actually hugged and kissed Kelly, and
said "Bless you!"
 
The boy has been dubbed Wooly-Bully, since he has the most adorable
underbite, and his teeth stick out like a bulldog's.  It was love at
first sight...he's fitting in just fine with Kelly's and our woozles.  He
is sweet natured and very cuddly, he likes dogs and cats and people and
other fuzzies.  He's a keeper!
 
Welcome home, Wooly-Bully.
 
May all your stories have happy endings, and may you all have a Joyous
Holiday Season.  I know I will.
 
Julie & the Woozles
21stCenturyFerret.com
"Ferrety stuff for ferrety people"
Dedicated to the support of
24 Carat Ferret Rescue & Shelter, Las Vegas
[Posted in FML issue 4007]