Hi all!
 
Sorry to not have posted for a while, but things have been rather hectic
lately - two adrenal surgeries, one adrenal/insulinoma surgery, one
malignant tumor of unknow origin removed, one "heart attack" ferret relapse,
and three lost ferrets!  I try to help out as much as I can whenever I hear
of a lost ferret, and one was very near my home.  This is the sad story -
all those who don't like sad stories, scan on.  Those who think their houses
are ferret-proof - please read.
 
I received a phone call from "Joyce" whose ferret escaped her house on
Monday.  "Lili" the ferret was last seen Monday morning.  This person worked
out of her home and was calling me for assistance in locating her ferret.  I
told her the usual stuff - squeak toys, leave food out, search everywhere
within a quarter mile of her home, enlist the help of the neighborhood kids
(this is the BEST thing to do, don't kid yourself, the neighborhood children
know everything that is going on and anywhere an animal is, they would have
seen it), put up posters, run an ad in the newspaper, call the SPCA and
animal control daily, but nothing worked.  The weather stayed warm enough so
that if the ferret found food & water, it would still be alive.  Three more
days passed and the daily contact continued.  I got to know this person
solely through phone contact and I could tell the strain of not knowing was
getting to her.  Finally I asked her if she was absolutely positive the
ferret got out of her house, and she said yes.  I told her to search the
house room by room everywhere!  Especially if she thought there was no way
the ferret could have gotten to that place or in that spot.  Two hours
later, I got a call.  "Joyce" found "Lili", and she had died.  She was
indeed trapped in the house.  She said it looked like Lili had chewed her
way into a box of christmas wrapping paper and got her head stuck in the
cardboard tube and suffocated.
 
"Joyce" was heartbroken.  She feels so guilty that her ferret got trapped
and died without her knowing it inside her house.  Please make sure that
places/stuff that you don't want your ferret to get to are out of reach of
ferrets!  They are so inquisitive, its second nature for them to stick their
heads in a hole, as if so say, "whats in there, and do I want it?".
Everyone always wants what is best for their pets, so I am posting this so
that maybe another ferret will be saved.
 
I hope that tonight finds all ferrets, safe and sound.
 
Lisa
[Posted in FML issue 1727]