Tuesday was a tragic day in my household.  I was getting ready to take a
new little girl that I got last week to the vet and had put my ferrets in
their cages.  Right before I left I checked to make sure I had closed all
doors and to my horror my precious Pebbles was hanging by her neck from
the outside of the cage.  I had put her in the cage not 15 minutes prior
to finding her.  I can't fathom how she managed to do this but a friend
theorizes that she was inside the cage and pushed her head through the
wires and got her butt stuck, got scared and tried to re-enter through
the wires and as she got her head through her butt unstuck and dropped,
hanging her.  She was in a Super Pet cage, 5 ft tall and 30in square.
She was hanging about 3 ft from the floor.  The openings in the wires
are 5"x1".  I cannot even imagine how she managed to get any of herself
through that small of an opening.  She had managed in the past to get
through a 1 1/2 in square wire hole but this is smaller.  And I had made
the 1 1/2" holes smaller with wire shelving.  I am heartsick, I have
never lost a baby before to an accident and this is devastating because
you second guess yourself about what you could have done to prevent it.
I am outfitting this cage with hardware cloth to prevent any of the
others from attempting what Pebbles did and meeting the same fate.
 
Pebbles came to me with 4 of her cagemates in Feb from a friend's son
who could no longer take care of them properly.  Pebbles was a sweety, so
feminine and petite.  Her favorite thing was to hide her crocheted eggs
all over their play area.  I used to delight in watching her running
across the floor with her prize in her mouth to hide it under a chair.
So, Sandee please look for Pebbles, I am sure she is in shock at being
there because all this happened so very quickly for her and me.  She
wouldn't have had time to gather up an egg for the journey so help her
find one, or many.  Also find my other crew, especially Snoopy, who was
her cagemate and who crossed in January after a short illness.  I took
care of him during that time and he was a joy as well.  Dance on, my
sweet Pebbles, until we all meet again.
 
Ann, Bandit, Frosty, Peanut, Precious, Rascal, Sam, Casper, Minka and
newbie, Hershey
 
missing Pebbles, Snoopy, Casey, Rosie, Marble, Cinnamon, Sabrina,
Jillian, Pepper, Wriggley, Zoey
[Posted in FML issue 4926]