I have a question about my ferret Zooey:
Just last week I lost her original companion, Elsa.  Now Zooey lived w/Elsa
for about a year before I got other ferrets (first Linus, then Martin), and
for the past month she'd been w/the two boys & hadn't seen Elsa b/c Elsa was
so sick & quarranteed in my room.  My question is that since Elsa has died,
Zooey has been less active.  She'll come out of the cage and play w/Linus &
Martin for a little while, then abruptly turn around and climb into the cage
and go to sleep.  Or she'll curl up in my blanket.
 
I'm probably being paranoid, but...she just turned 4 yrs old.  When do I
have to worry about her "slowing down"?  Does she somehow know that Elsa is
truly gone, and not coming back?
 
I've noticed all these missing ferret posts recently.  I know how awful it
can be wondering where your pet is.  I had a similar experience w/Zooey but
*luckily* it ended on a positive note: A couple years ago, Zooey escaped my
house when I was on vacation.  She just walked out the front door.  My
roommates told me, but there was nothing I could do where I was.  My
roommates put out all sorts of flyers all over the neighborhood, and the
second day she was missing got a call from a man who had found her.  Turns
out he was walking out of a hardware store two blocks from our house when
Zooey just walked in.  He picked her up and took her home b/c his children
used to have ferrets & he still had the cages.  Later that day he happened
to be at a restaurant about six blocks from our home, and was telling this
random person what he had found that day.  The random person had seen my
roommates' flyers and told him about the people looking for their ferret.  I
was *extremely* glad to get her back.  It still makes my skin crawl to know
she was wandering around our neighborhood, crossing a two lane street (&
she's exactly the color of concrete)...she was really lucky.
 
Minta
(& Linus, Martin & Zooey)
[Posted in FML issue 2206]