Hello all-

I am not so much a poster as I am a lurker. I have followed the stories
of Ping and his adventures. I also have read the posts since Ping left
us. Yes, accidents do happen, And when you have little stinkers like
our ferrets it seems that they happen more often. I cried my eyes out
for Alex when she wrote of Ping's accident. I can under stand her
needing a break. I want to share a couple of "near tragedies" tat I
have been through with my kids.

At one point in time my ferrets had run of my house, with the exception
of the basement. I never dreamed of problems with the ferrets and my
stove until they showed me they could get up inside at the back by
going through the drawer. They also learned how to pull the grate off
of the front of the 'fridge and get under it. The kitchen then became
off limits.

I had at one time a couch bed and when ferrets were out no one was
allowed to sit on it. Good thing too as my Missy Little Foot decided
that the greatest place in the world was inside the mattress. She had
crawled between the cushions and dug a hole in the mattress and had a
wonderful time playing in the springs. I had to wait forever for her
to decide to come out as I was afraid to open it for fear of crushing
her. Removed mattress and replace with a piece of plywood. Not nearly
so comfy, but oh well.

I have always had dogs all my life. 7 years ago my hubby and I adopted
a dog, Jasmine, blue heeler mix from the local shelter. She was between
1-2 yrs old. At this time I had 17 ferrets. They now spent half their
time in their cages and half their time in a designated play area.
Well, one day while I was at work Smudge, who was my fat furry clown
(also quite strong) discovered he could pop the cage door. My dogs were
in the house. Tigger was terrified and did his best to hide (chow mix)
Jasmine on the other hand knew they were not to be out of their room
and when I got home she was doing her level best to keep eight ferrets
rounded up in their room. I had eight soaking wet but unharmed ferrets
and one frantic dog. Jasmine did not hurt a one of them but it scares
me still today when I think of what could have happened. Yes, I beat
myself up for not realizing the dangers that lurked. But I am, as we
all are, a mere human and cannot be prepared for absolutely everything.

Point is ferrets will be ferrets and dogs will be dogs. No matter how
careful we are accidents happen. I am eternally grateful that my kids
managed to avoid the tragedies that could have been. Life is chance
full of a lot of unknowns. We all just do the best we can. Life is too
short for blame. I've had ferrets for 18 years and have blamed myself
for things that couldn't be helped. IT SUCKS!!!

Love your animals and keep on truckin'.

Terry and eight "Tatty Brats"

[Posted in FML 6090]