The mention of the poor little guy who got hung up on his cage reminded
me of a very scary incident that happened to Scooter this last weekend.
I took him, along with my girlfriend's two, which I'm caring for while
she's on vacation, to my parents' house. I locked Boris and Dottie in
the bathroom overnight and left Scooter secured by his leash to the
doorknob in the family room, with a favorite sleeping sock, food, water
and a bathroom in easy reach. I've done this many times before, and it's
worked well.
I got up in the morning to discover Scooter was apparently in a good deal
of pain. He was all curled up and chittered when I moved him. I picked
him up and was shocked to discover the leash was half off, wrapped around
his midsection, with the metal clasp reversed and stuck on his penis. It
apparently hurt a good deal when I took it off, but he immediately calmed
down as I frantically called a local vet. He's OK, but the moral of the
story is: No matter how good the harness is, NEVER leave them unattended
with one on. I'll never risk that again. I've never been so scared in
my life.
A funnier note: I mentioned that I'm caring for my girlfriend's two
ferrets while she's gone. I walked into her apartment this morning to
discover that Boris (the BIG male) had pushed the cage top open against
the spring, climbed out, then used the cage top to access the forbidden
kitchen counter. He raised seven different shades of holy hell in that
kitchen. There were Grape-Nuts, Cheerios and potting soil everywhere.
Once I located Boris, I laughed my head off (until I realized who had to
clean it up). Teach ME not to latch the cage securely.
Chris and
Scooter (Ouch! Ouch!)
and, (temporarily)
Boris (Cool! Grape-Nuts! And no supervision!)
Dottie (Where's he going? When's Mom coming home?)
Bellingham, WA
I am Ferret of Borg
The Litterbox is Irrelevant
Bitter Apple is Irrelevant
Your Socks Will Be Assimilated
[Posted in FML issue 1271]