Maybe I'm paranoid or have an over active imagination... but I never let my
kids outside for more than a few minutes and then with constant supervision
(mom no more than 3 ft away).Sometimes they get to go for a walk on a leash.
We live in a condo so the fenced yard is rather small.  I won't let them
loose on the larger yard since I don't know if there are any holes,
droppings, pesticides, lurking children(ok I'm paranoid).  The thing is,
ferrets aren't on this earth long enough to begin with, I love them so much
I would do anything to protect them.  They bring such joy to our lives!
 
There was a question about asthma...Ninja started wheezing once, we (mom and
me) have astnma and that's what it sounded like.  Ninja started getting
worse to we grabbed an inhaler and gave her a blast about a 18 inches from
her face.  She started sniffing the air as if she new we were trying to help
her.  Within a few seconds she improved and a few minutes later she was
breathing fine.(We checked with Doc later) Now we have Pepper who we
adopted, he's such a sweetheart!, and he gets some resiratory problems also
and we need to give him a blast once in awhile.  He came to us with a
scented collar which we removed since we love that ferret smell!  The first
night we had him I heard snoring, I never heard snoring before(Just little
ferret-sleep-noises)!  Since the collar came off and after a few bathes, he
doesn't snore so bad anymore, just once in a great while.  Molly had kept
smelling and licking his neck where the collar was("what the heck is that!")
untill the smell was gone.  Ninja was jealous, would'nt let another animal
in the house, no way, no how.  She chased 'em out pronto no matter their
size.  I didn't know how sweet and cuddly kids could be together untill I
got Molly and Pepper!
 
Laura, Molly, Pepper and Marie (pecking order according to Molly and she
disagrees with the first two!)
[Posted in FML issue 1610]