I have a near tragic story to tell regarding toilet paper rolls.  Two years
ago, on Christmas Day, I let Lucy & Greta play in a cardboard tube from
wrapping paper I used up earlier.  They barely fit in it but thought it was
fun when I rolled the tube across the floor with them in it.  Later that
night, I let them out to play again, and went in to watch T.V.  A little
while later, I got a sudden urge to check up on them.  I found Greta but
not Lucy.  Finally, knowing how much she loved to climb into garbage cans,
I checked those.  I found her in the one in the bathroom.  She was just
laying still with her head down in the trash.  I grabbed her out and saw
she had her head stuck in a toilet paper roll.  (Apparently, she thought
she could fit thru that one since she fit in the other one earlier).  She
obviously was weak from struggling to get it off.  I tried to get it off
but couldn't.  I looked into the other end of the tube and saw she was
bleeding from the nose and frothing at the mouth.  Her eyes were glazed
over.  I quickly found a scissors and cut the tube off of her.  She coughed
a few times but then stopped breathing!  I yelled her name and shook her a
little She started to cough again.  I ran to the phone to call my vet.  I
called two I knew of but couldn't reach them.  For a little while, I just
sat on the floor, rocking her in my arms and crying!  I was so sure she was
going to die!  Once I pulled myself together, I called an emergency clinic
in Minneapolis and they said they don't treat ferrets!  I called the St
Paul emergency clinic and they said they would see her, but since my car
had no heat and it was 30 degrees below zero that night, and the clinic was
an hour or more away, I decided it was too risky to bring her there..  The
lady I spoke with, was very nice and talked to me for quite a long time.
Finally, when I noticed that Lucy had gotten off my lap and was rummaging
thru my purse, I figured she was going to pull thru!
 
Long story, but just want to say to be very careful!  I now cut up ALL
cardboard tubes before I throw them away.  I also have phone numbers of
closer emergency vets that love ferrrets, in case of another close call.
Lucy did recover, and she thnks of me as her guardian angel and follows
me everywhere I go!  It did bring us a lot closer.
 
Barb and the ever-lovin fuzzies,
 Lucy ( you saved my life, Mommy, I love you!)
  & Greta  (Can we roll in the big tube again?)
[Posted in FML issue 2487]