Close calls with ferrets...

I have been owned by ferrets for 20 years and have had a number of
close calls.

My very first ferret, Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy, went through a small hole in a
window screen. I didn't realize this had happened. When I opened the
front door to see if my cat wanted in, there was my neighbor's dog
shaking my ferret!! Amazingly, I rescued Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy in time and
he was ok (ferret guardian angel at work!!).

Another time I had Roxanne in my "completely fenced-in" backyard.
Wrong -- she of course found a hole in the fence and took off. By
the time I ran around the block to the yard behind mine, Roxanne had
already met three different neighbors who were out raking leaves.
Fortunately, one of them knew I had ferrets and was holding Roxanne.

And then there was the time Prince Charming spent more than a day
inside the wall of someone else's house after finding a hole in the
wall. [Hey, he was a quite a jumper! BIG]

Another time I was taking care of Gus, who managed to disappear.
Fortunately, his person (Bill Wmson -- are you reading this??) had Gus
trained to come to a squeaky toy. So when I noticed Gus was missing, I
started squeaking the toy and I heard a scratching from the other side
of the basement door(!) Gus had found a missing tile at the base of
the bathroom wall and ended up in the basement -- thank goodness for
squeaky toys!!

I used to keep a couple of small coated-wire cages open in my ferret
room so ferrets could climb in and out, and whenever I needed to
separate anyone for short periods of time (my ferrets have free range
of 2 rooms). One day I heard a ferret screaming and found one of my
tiny females with her foot caught in the top of the open cage! Thank
goodness I was home! No more cages in the ferret rooms (I keep a number
of open carriers for ferrets eating special foods, and also in case of
emergency).

And most recently, the Great Splendini (my current escape artist) found
a hole in a screen behind a window I "never" leave open! He was out on
the kitchen roof having a great time till I climbed out the window and
caught him.

What I have learned...if ferret guardian angels turn their back for
even a second, a ferret is bound to get into trouble!! And...ferret
proofing is an ongoing process, and every ferret is different -- a new
ferret will ALWAYS find something that no other ferret has ever found.
Training a ferret to come to a squeaky toy can be lifesaving! Each of
these incidents took a few years off my life(!!) and I consider myself
and my ferrets very lucky.

Ronnie DiComo

[Posted in FML 6097]