You ask for stories - how about this ?
 
In February 1992 I read in the local newspaper that a ferret was walking in
and out with a company.  I live in Sweden, so in February there is normally
quite a bit of snow and minus 10 degrees (Celcius) in the daytime and much
colder in the night.
 
I immediately called the company and got there so they could show me where
this ferret "lived" He was housing under a shed and had been so since
October (!) when they first spotted him.  These people did not understand
that he was a domesticated animal but thought that he was wild so they fed
him every now and then with pizza and ham and sandwiches and whatsoever.
They had also given him a rug that he had dragged down this hole under the
shed and they lived happily in the belief that he was a wild ferret looking
for human company.  In spite of the fact that the newspaper at several
occations wrote about him asking if anybody missed him, nobody could state
he was theirs.  So I took him in.  Probably he was thrown out from
somebodys home in September and made it all the time to February.  So do
not loose hope.  The case can also be that somebody has taken your LouLou
in, and does not want to admit it.  Pjatten, as I christened him was not
fixed, so I took him to my vet to have that done as I had two other males
at home.  The vet estimated his age to approx.  2 years at that time.
Pjatten adjusted with the other two in just a few days and he passed away
piecefully in his sleep last April at an age of approx. 10 years.  He was
never sick or had any health problems.  Only in the last few months he
became more tired but never suffered and ate and drank until his last
evening.  He was clever and fortunate enough to make it 5 months "on his
own" and eventually got a very good and happy and dooky life.  His trust
in us humans was great and I will miss him forever.
 
Best regards and I will keep my fingers crossed.
 
Ingella Arwidsson  Swedish fuzzy mom
[Posted in FML issue 3186]