>From:    "Lynne K. Fuge" <[log in to unmask]>
>I gather that I am not alone in letting my ferrets the run of the house.
>What's the secret?
 
Oh dear.  Yours is a very sad story.  I'm so sorry about the loss of your
ferrets.  I'm sorry for you and I am sorry for the ferrets.  It is possible
to let ferrets have free run of the house.  I, myself, can not bring myself
to enclose my ferrets in a cage.  Of course there are times where you just
must confine a ferret, when one is sick, when a repairperson is in the
house, when you have house guests, when you have a baby ferrets, when you
have in-season males, and many more times.  In order to let your ferrets
have free run most of the time though you must be extremely extremely
conscientious.  You must anticipate disaster.  You must think like a ferret.
You must not underestimate the craftiness of the ferret.  Life cannot be
business as usual with free roaming ferrets.  You must take into account
your furniture - it MUST be ferretproof.  We have gone to extensive lengths
to ferret proof our furniture.  We got rid of our mattress years ago and use
a futon, we have attached linoleum to the bottoms of our couches, we have to
even situate the furniture in such a way that a beast cannot jump from place
to place and hurt himself, we have carpet runners over the back of the
chaise, we have padding around the corners of the desk, we have no
knick-knacks, no candles on the dining room table, this is just the tip of
the iceberg.  As far as appliances, we have the refrig and the stove
enclosed, baby locks on the cabinets, all chemicals out of the house, etc
etc.  We cannot have open windows and open doors with screens unless they
are supervised - that is just the way it is.  If we are sitting next to the
window - we open it, if we walk away to answer the phone, we close it.
Everytime somebody leaves or comes in the front door, we do a head count.
We have a sign by our toilet "The pool is closed for the season - please
shut the lid" - and of course we frequently double check with guests in the
house.  I don't wear shoes in the house, in fact shoes stay out on the front
porch so that they are not eaten.  It would take me a 300 page book to tell
you all we do to ensure the safety of the animals, all of the contraptions
we have made, all of the precautions we take, all of the furniture we have
thrown out, all of the appliances we have wrecked in trying to ferretproof
them etc etc.  Soon enough, this type of existence becomes normal though,
and it just seems like second nature to know where each beast is at every
moment even with several of them.  I can tell you right now that Edith is in
the closet in the guest bedroom (we had to make the rods higher so she
couldn't climb the clothes and get up on the shelf and we had to secure the
attic entrance just in case she manages the climb anyway), Zoey, Clarence
and Henry are underneath the wardrobe (we had to take all of the cords from
behind this and run them down from the top of the furniture with a heavy
duty cord so they had no access to chewing them - but we sprayed them with
bitter apple and have them covered as well as plugged into a GFI just in
case they figure it out), Dino is here by my feet (and I am keeping one eye
on the open window next to me), etc etc.  Later on today we are having
someone come to repair our bathtub.  Before the guy comes we will prepare by
putting everyone in the bedroom and shutting the door (there is a piece of
wood screwed to the bottom of the door because otherwise they squeeze
through the gap and get out).  Then when he leaves, we will do a head count
to make sure no on got out.  Well, anyways, like I said I could go on and
on.  Every single thing we do revolves around the ferrets and other animals
in the house, nothing is taken for granted.  Bringing groceries in, getting
a snack out of the frig, making the bed, everything is a bit of an ordeal
with ferrets.  But, I love every minute of it, wouldn't change it for the
world, and know that it can be done (tle has some 60 animals with free-run -
it can be done).  Again, I'm sorry for your loss.  I pray for ferrets.
Please think very long and hard about adopting more animals until you have
gone over all of the necessary precautions and many sacrifices necessary in
ensuring their safety.  Charlene
[Posted in FML issue 1571]