Hello everybody!  I have been lurking for a while now, and enjoying the FML
very much.  I live in a FFZ and am paranoid about the evil forces of the
law, so I am going to post this anonymously.  My name, however, is DAN, and
my little schnookit's name is INDIE.  She also recognizes the nicknames
(and responds to): Squirty Girl, Sniff-Sniff and WedgeHead.  Mango and
guava are to die for, and she sleeps in the underwear drawer, where she
considerately pre-musks every sock, teeshirt and handkerchief in her range.
 
Indie, being a ferret, is, of course, much smarter than a cat (sorry, cat
people), so she doesn't fall for those obvious kitty toys.  Try to dangle
a string or a bell at her and she just looks at you reproachfully ("you
don't think I'm going to fall for THAT, do you?  Honestly...").  HOWEVER,
if you use clear monofilament fishing line (I use a regular fishing rod)
with a little twist of paper tied on the end (tied like a bow tie: looks
like a moth), she can't see the strings attached and thinks, "Wow, no
visible means of support!  Must be alive!  Must be EDIBLE!", and promptly
goes nuts.  You've never heard such dooking and chittering and chuckling
as when she's chasing a skittering twist of paper across the floor that
seems to float of it's own accord and always seems, infuriatingly, to
keep just a hair in front of her nose (I let her catch it sometimes, and
hold it in her paws, and gloat a bit...before i yank it away again).
 
So if you want a real interactive (and energetic) form of exercise, get a
fishing rod and try this with your own carpet sharks...Indie, for one,
will follow the little dangly thing all over the house, AS LONG AS SHE
CAN'T SEE THE STRING.  When we use yarn, she just gets bored and attacks
a leather shoe instead.
 
Dan and Indie the stinkmouse
[Posted in FML issue 1322]