When we had a previous crew of ferrets I was known in the major mail
order undergarment store I used as "the woman whose ferrets steal her
panties".  That is how often i had to replenish my own supply.  Later,
when that crew passed on and we moved some furniture i wound up with
enough panties that I didn't have to order for years and years until age
destroyed the elastic on too many of the ones I didn't get around to
using again.  It's bad when you suddenly have so many panties that the
cloth outlives their elastic.  Besides, you KNOW it is bad when a major
retailer's sales people all know who you are because of repeated ferret
thefts.  ("You'll never guess who is calling!  It's the woman whose
ferrets steal her panties!")
 
We currently have ferrets who steal Poise type pads.  The condition is
not important.  They will with great joy empty an entire new bag of them
if they get a chance (very expensive).  So, never ask us to buy those
for you.  They will go missing just like the panties used to.  We do
have one who finds the ones hidden by Morney and Whizbang and returns
them to people for a treat, though: Telemna does that.  She is our first
retriever ferret in about a quarter century.
 
Years ago one of ours stole an EXPENSIVE pair of eyeglasses.  They
weren't found for at least 5 years.  Actually, I am wearing that frame
now with a new set of lenses.  My eyes are really crummy, and since I
live in glasses good frames really make a difference, so I guess the pair
she stole must have been worth quite a few hundred dollars at the time.
 
We also had one who stole photos and for some reason a certain set of
old picies of me with three of the chimps i worked with decades ago would
disappear for years at a time and then suddenly appear in the middle of
the floor one day.  That actually happened something like 3 times in a
row.
 
Ashling used to grab the tv remote (almost as big as her body was)
lock her canines into the ridge where the top and bottom met, and
then climb the closet, stashing it about 8 feet up (which, if memory
serves was where my glasses finally appeared, too).
 
If Spot could steal stamps (the old fashioned kind) he used to lick
the sheet and rolls free of glue and then abandon them.  One year we
had to buy to buy about 150 to 200 new Christmas stamps.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
   private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5380]