What a gross smell when I walked in my door fr my 4 months away... My petsitter had let the fert cage get plastered with feces. Not to mention the cat poop on the livingroom and office carpets. DAMN! I have spent the last two days cleaning -- especially the huge Martin's cage. Parts of the cage still smell bad. It's got the plastic coating. Can anyone recommend a particularly good cleaner? Also, the ferrets' coats were all rough, and I worried that they were sick. But it turns out to have been dust. I watered the outdoor pens and also handled them a lot, and now their fur feels almost normal. And the final upheaval -- also solved: Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of guys (who know my ferrets and who helped build the outside pens) remove the cage from the house so we could wash it outside. As part of that they had to block off the entry to the house from the outside pens where the ferts were. Well, some friends on their way up horth stopped by, and as were were visiting, one of them casually pointed out Rico wandering through the dry grass. Then I saw Phillippe. And, in another direction, Robert. My friends got all silly and useless Oh ! they couldn't help -- maybe they would get bitten ! and Oh ! they had to leave ! Dear God, I was so irriatated with them with the scrap of mind that I had left for considering anything except finding my furry ones. There were ferrets all over the place. They had jumped down from the window opening and then most had gone out the dog door. What a scramble. And what amazing good fortune. I gathered up the three of them. Then found two more. Then more. Most were outdoors, and a couple were inside the house. At that point 8 of the 10 were accounted for and locked in an f-proofed bathroom. A while later Lucy showed, scooting down one of the ferret drain pipes. But where was Tina???? Oh little dear Tina, my tiny girl who'd been extra affectionate -- more than ever before -- during the two days I'd been back home, where was she? You can just imagine my state of mind -- amazed at having found so many and so sad to be missing my little runtling. I looked and looked, no luck. It got dark, and I got out my flashlight. No Tina. Finally I went to bed. Looked again today. Still no Tina. Then this aft I gathered the nine from the bathroom and put them back in an outside pen, now secured against any escapes. Amidst the mob, who did I see? Tina! She apparently never left the cage, and must have been sleeping in one of their new tunnels. It hadn't occurred to me to check there. I guess she came out when I put the others down, becasue I had looked around the pen before tipping the nine out of their "taxi," in case I might see her. I am still amazed at my good luck -- imagine having all those ferrets on the loose and recovering them all. [Posted in FML 5641]