Stephen, Please keep looking for Misty, please do put up flyers even farther away from your home than you currently have done, and please keep checking the lost and found section of your newspaper and call about any ferret, no matter how far away from home it was found. Ferrets can survive in an urban and suburban area for quite some time if they find a warm spot to hide out in (a garage or crawl space for example), and a source of food (a cat feeding station for an outdoor cat). Three days ago the Cascade Ferret Network reunited a ferret and owner ten days after the ferret's escape. The ferret was found 3 miles from his home. It has been cold and rainy up here, and other than being a little dirty, the ferret was in good shape. Last summer we reunited a ferret with her family after two weeks. The ferret was found over fifteen miles away from home, across town, over the river, and up in the hills almost outside of town. Her owners had seen the ad we had placed in lost & found, but didn't bother to call because of the location. We (and they) got lucky in that the person who inadvertently transported the lost ferret from one side of town to the other called us and told us how he found her in his house and was taking her into work (across town) so his coworkers could tell him what type of animal it was (he thought it was a baby opossum) when she leapt from his car as he opened the door. Five days later he saw the posters for the lost ferret around his neighborhood, saw the posters we put up where the ferret was found near his work and figured out what had happened. Keep looking and good luck to you and Misty. Leonard Bottleman [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2631]