Yesterday my little girl ferret, Itty-bitty, died in a tragic accident.
It taught me a very important lesson that I'd read about but didn't take
to heart.  NO ROOM IS EVER COMPLETLEY FERRET-PROOF!
 
Here's what happened and I know I may get beratted for my actions, but I
have learned a very harsh lesson.
 
My ferrets cage is in my bedroom and everyday I let them run around it to
get there daily exercise.  I've left them alone in the room many times
before and I thought I had ferret proofed it as well as any room could
be.  I had moved my desk right up next to the wall so the ferrets
couldn't get behind it and nailed a peice of wood to the front of it so
they couldn't get under it.  Well, tonight I went into my room and my
ferrets were nowhere to be seen or heard, which isn't unusual.  They fall
asleep under my dresser all the time and I assumed both of them were
there.  After a short while I decided I wanted to play with them a bit
before I put them back into there cage so I grabbed the squeaky toy that
I taught them to come to and started squeaking it.  Torque, my big boy,
came running out but Itty-bitty didn't come.  I thought that was odd.
I started frantically looking for her but I didn't find her.  I thought
she had either gotten out of the room or was just ignoring me.  When I
couldn't find her around the house my heart sank as I thought about my
desk...I asked my brother to move it for me thinking she might be stuck
under there although I didn't hear her scratching or anything.  When he
moved the desk we found her cold, stiff body.  My guess is that she had
somehow gotten underneath it but couldn't get out.
 
I feel absolutley horrible and I've been crying all night.  I could have
prevented this very tragic ending for my baby if I'd only been a bit
smarter.  I blame her death on my stupidity and carelessness.
 
Now I am very worried about Torque.  He's an only ferret now and I'm
worried he's going to die of heartbreak or something.  If anyone knows
of a rescue ferret that needs a good home in CT I would be more than
happy to take it.  I'm not trying to replace Itty-bitty at all, I'm just
thinking of the welfare of my other ferret.  From now on, my ferrets will
only have supervised playtime so that nothing else like today's events
can ever happen again.
 
I'm very sorry to Itty-bitty and hope she will still come and meet me at
the Bridge someday.
 
Anjie
[Posted in FML issue 4232]