>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]