Alexandra, Thank you for posting about the dangers of wood stoves. I had a similar experience about 10-12 years ago. At that time I had 3 ferrets that had lived with us in the house for a number of years. In the winter the wood stove was our primary source of heat and they had always maintained a healthy distance from it. Silly me thought it was safe! Then one day my little female Tippy was in one of her particularly spastic moods and was bouncing everywhere. She climbed up on the love seat, bounced once or twice and then took a flying leap off the arm of it landing right on top of the stove. Even today I thank my lucky stars that I was right there when it happened. I snatched her up, rushed straight to the sink and did exactly what your husband did. And like Ping she came out of it no worse for wear. Wood stoves are right up there on the list of potential dangers. Another possible danger is child gates. I have a gate that separates my kitchen from my living room. When I am home it is always open and occasionally the ferrets, while playing, will push on it and it will close to the point where they only have a small opening to squeeze through to get from one room to the other. To completely close it you have to lift the gate and swing it over a bar that runs along the bottom. Last night I was sitting on the couch trying to watch the Amazing Race while the ferrets were racing around being very noisy. Pipin and Loki were fighting over where the Kong belonged (Loki thinks it goes under the light next to the TV and Pipin thinks it belongs downstairs). Dino had been playing and had pushed the gate so that it was partially closed and then Pipin decided to grab the Kong and ran off towards the kitchen with it. As she got closer to the gate somehow (I'm still not sure how this happened) the Kong ended up on the living room side of the gate and Pipin was on the kitchen side with the Kong still in her mouth. She started backing up and as she did the Kong pushed the gate closed on her neck. There was no way Pipin could have gotten herself out of the situation had I not been right there to see it happen and run to her rescue. Tonight I will be installing a hook on the wall and will use a cord to secure the gate to the hook so that whenever it is open this doesn't happen again. Barb Alberta Ferret Society http://www.albertaferretsociety.com [Posted in FML 5580]