I would like to write about two serius incidents I have had with my
ferrets. The first one I had already mentioned a few days ago.
Shakespeare, my real heller, got killid in a reclining chair accident.
I had that chair and many ferrets in the same house for about 7 or 8
yrs. Never had a problem. Everytime I had to get out of the chair, I
would climb over the footrest, leaving it open, and check under and
around it for any hiding ferrets. Then i would manually closer it. This
one time last year, I had felt all around the chair before getting up.
I found Gracie No Tail ( she does have a tail though) and my puppy
Bella Mia, but no Shakers. I continued to sit in the chair several
minutes longer. My son was also in the room and I asked him if he saw
the Shakespeariance and he said no. We both assumed he went in another
room via under the couch. I got up. To make a long story short I found
him dead the next morning, his neck broken from the recliner. I have
never gotten over that one, though I learned a valuable lesson about
the dangers of recliners. It was gone from the house as soon as I could
afford to replace it. In the mean time I never just got up from that
chair without me or someone else checking thoroughly underneath it. I
learned a hard lesson because my husband will not allow me to have
anymore ferrets.

My second ferret, Pearl Girl, I purchased about 5 months after my
first. My son purchased the first one and I never learned anything
about them or their health issues since I was never going to interact
with the first "THING", Nibbles. Pearl Girl was the runt of the group
of ferrets at our mall pet store. She was being dragged around by all
the other bigger ferrets and not allowed to eat. The next day when I
took my son to work at the Mall we looked in again on the ferrets> The
poor runt was helplessly being dragged all over and crying loud. Me and
my son could not leave her there any longer, so we chipped in and
bought Pearl Girl. She was a tiny albino and the sweetesat ferret I had
ewver seen. She loved to be held and to sleep in your arms. I would let
even the smallest kid hold her because she lkoved it and snuggled them
all. Well, Pearl Girl was a pure joy for about 15 months. Then I
noticed she was losing hair. We brought her to a vet and they said they
could find nothing wrong with her. They said they could do an MRI or
Cat scan, I don't remember. We would have to travel 2 hours away for it
and it could cost several hundred dollars. We live week to week here
with money so I couldn't afford it then. I figured if it was serious
the vet would surely know! She came home and did ok for awhile, then
she started losing weight down to her bones. I swore when I had money
in 10 days I would bring her back to the vets. She never made it. I
never thought she would go that soon! One nite I went to see Paul
McCartney at Madison Sq. Garden. I had waited 40+ yrs to see him. I
felt so guilty leaving that poor tiny shell of a ferret home with my
not very experienced husband> I was hand feeding her by then. I called
before the concert started and he told me she wouldn't take food from
him. I was worried but thought she still had some time (totally
uneducated me). I got home around 2am. I checked on my 4 ferrets I had
then and Pearl Girl was awake. I took her out, gave her a gentle kiss
and told her she had to go back to bed so as not to wake the other
ferts or my kids. The next morning we got up to find My precious sweet
Pearl Girl was gone. We buried her out back. My younger son buried her
and told him not to tell me where cause I could not face going to her
grave at all. To this day I dont know where she is buried. What did I
learn from this? Educate yourself about all your pets. Since then I
have read every book about ferrets I could get my hands on. I found a
ferret chat room with the most knowledgeable nicest people in the
world. Through them I learned about the FML and the Fhl And Aol ferret
message board which no one goes to much anymore. The people in this
chat room even helped me realize it was time to let go of one my
ferrets. They helped me understand its a hard decision but maybe the
best for the ferret. Since that group is gone I have learned so much
frm you guys here and on the FHl. I even educate people about the woes
of ferret ownership. Well. that's it for now. Please no one get mad at
me for this. This is a group for smiles, laughs, tears, and most
important to learn thru the experiences of others. Lets keep it going
And les's hope both Alexandre and VK can patch up their differences so
they can comeback and help educate others. Thanks for your time
everyone!

[Posted in FML 6091]