Hi Ferrets friends !
 
Let me tell you a story that could have been tragic, but that luckily ended
more than well, and I'm sure you will pardon my possible errors in writing
in English.
 
Three weeks ago a nice couple, real animal lovers (two ferrets, four dogs,
four cats, a Myna bird) phoned to me, under suggestion of our common Vet,
asking if I would have allowed my Igor to mate with their 9 months old
jill, because their male was only 2.5 months, then too young, and she was
in her first heath.
 
I agreed and they brought her to my house.  A real beauty, creamy almost
albino, dark eyed, name Kira, and she was with Igor for 5 days.  My jill
Orietta was already pregnant, so she was in a separate cage.(She is
supposed to give birth in the next 5 days).  Then Kira went back home.
 
This morning, october 1st, the woman called me crying and telling me that
the night before Kira evaded from the cage and escaped in the backyard.  I
suggested to her to look carefully in all the yards around their house and
to stick immediately messages in the neighborood.  After, I phoned to the
vet clinic that is near to their house warning them about the possible
deliver, from some eventual person that could have found her, describing
Kira and leaving to them my phone number.  I was feeling really bad
thinking to that poor girl risking to be smashed by a car, as Milan is a
high traffic density city, then in the afternoon I had an idea.  I went to
their house with Igor, leashed with a 10 feet leash (you know, that one
used for small dogs), in the hope that he would have feeled her smell, or
viceversa, and we started going around, but no success.  They were really
desperate, feeling that they were going not to see her anymore, even if I
kept encouraging them in waiting at least three days before losing any
hope.
 
But my action resulted in a success anyway, because I felt quite upset when
I discovered that they had not yet spread the "wanted" message around, so I
wrote it myself, and sent their son to make 50 photocopies of it and to
stick it on the shops and on the streets around.  Then I went back home.
After three hours they called me, happier than ever, telling that a young
couple found Kira the night before and that they took her, then today they
saw those messages and called and returned her to them.  If they were only
following my advice since the morning, they would have spared themselves
many hours of suffering !  But I feel really happy anyway.
 
Fulvio
[Posted in FML issue 2822]