Oh Crap!, One of my Ferrets Escaped
A few times I have mentioned stories where a ferret escaped and was later found, computer scanned by a Veterinarian and returned to it’s owner. In a very upsetting event, this came close to happening to me. A big difference is that my ferrets were not micro-chipped.
Plotting an escape ? Photo by Kurtis Andrew
I have owned ferrets for almost 20 years now and have never had one get away from me. Our house and rooms are ferret proofed and we open and close doors with an instinctive shuffle and usual glance downward before crossing through them. We have never had a problem, up until now….
We are currently in the middle of a move and settling into a different house. Looking closely at every room, crack and crevice, we made sure that this next house would be as adequately ferret proofed as our current home. I was confident that it was. We moved in; But because of the extra personnel coming through this house, the ferrets have been restricted to a single room.
All seemed well until one evening when I was outside. A neighbor pointed to another neighbor’s yard and said to me “Hey is that a ferret over there?”. When I looked in the direction that he was pointing, I immediately noticed that it was Zoey. The guilt that I felt has been absolutely horrible. What if my neighbor didn’t notice her? What if a car hit her? What if she fell down a sewer drain? What if she fell victim to a coyote or dog? My stomach turns when I think of those scenarios. I think we all feel that we are protective and that this sort of thing will not occur.
So, how did it happen? I have racked my brain over this and can only come up with a best guess. #1 – Zoey must have slipped out of the ferret room unnoticed as somebody entered or exited the room (There were extra people around). #2 – She probably made her escape to the outdoors through a storm door that sometimes didn’t close right – again unnoticed. That storm door has since been fixed.
The next day after this occurred, I made an appointment to have Avid micro-chips inserted into the furries. Both of our ferrets are over 9 months old and this should have been done sooner. Now, I pray that if this type of thing ever happens again a good citizen and local vet will help our furball find it’s way home.
When you think about the overall cost of ferret ownership bundled with the amount of love they give, this small investment for a chip seems a no brainer.
Information on this particular chip can be found on the Avid website. As far as the procedure goes, the ferrets received a small dose of a sedative and were in and out in about 30 minutes. The chip is inserted in between the shoulder blades and is approximately the size of a grain of rice. The cost was just over $100 US/each and really does provide a little piece of mind. The thought of losing one of our precious pets and never knowing what happened to it is almost too unbearable to even think about.
I’d like to hear from readers as to whether their ferrets are micro-chipped or not. Any stories to share ?
I keep 2 ferrets, have had 3 total including one who passed on, and all three have gotten outside the house on different occasions. First time was when I moved also ….. it was in the middle of winter, I had moved the ferrets first and their cage was set up in the empty house. Nevetheless I must’ve had them out one day when the door was opening to admit furniture. They scratched around outside the house a little and then came right back in, behaving more like domestic cats than animals trying to escape.
Teak has been out a couple times and come back again; we have a very good bond and he’s always been well behaved and sensitive to me, he seems smart in that way; when he goes out I follow with a squeaker and he comes back to the squeaker. If I’ve lost track of him I leave both doors open a crack and he has always come back in.
Recently my younger ferret, Rain, must have followed me out the back door when I was emptying the bottles for recycling. His impulse is to go wherever I go and if possible to get there first…. however on this occasion I thought he was asleep in another part of the house, and it being pitch dark outside, never saw him come out ….. I went back inside and shut the door on him!
I didn’t realize he was gone til the next morning. Then of course I got really scared. It took me awhile to think what to do, then I went searching for him with squeaker, made flyers and put them up in pet stores and in neighbors’ mailboxes. This was a lot of work and took more than a day.
He has a microchip, by the way, put in by the breeder. I did not feel too hopeful that if someone found him they would think to bring him to a vet, and there are lots of vets in this area — I don’t know if they all access the same database. I’ve only registered his chip number at one of them.
That night I left the door open a crack and rigged a gate in the hallway so my other ferret wouldn’t get out. I put Rain’s travel cage outside to create a strong scent he might catch to find his way, and also put out food and water. The next morning it paid off – he was inside the back door, asleep underneath the blanket in front of the litter box, which was all the farther he could get into the house on account of the gate for the other ferret.
These experiences have formed my opinion ferrets are more like pets who do not wish to be escape from their homes, do have a sense of direction or a way to stay near what they consider home, and dread being locked out of their home. After Rain’s return, he stayed away from the door altogether for quite a while after that, afraid of being locked out again. It was 2 & 1/2 days that he was out on his own, and he was thin when he came back, having not found food.
After this I looked into GPS-type devices, which would be more useful than a microchip that depends on the animal crossing paths with a vet that has the right database. I didn’t find that there is a technology or way to attach such device yet to a ferret.
I certainly identify with your guilt and worry. Boy was I frantic on all of these occurences. One of them was when I brought home my new younger one to replace the one who had died. As I was bringing in the cage, my other boy (Teak again) managed to get out — on another snowy sleety night. I heard hissing and later ran into a huge oppossum whom I was sure had killed him. Nevertheless, a half hour or hour later Teak came waltzing in the back door (which I’d opened a crack for him, hoping the Possum wouldn’t come in!) like nothing had happened & began nonchalently examining the new cage on the living room floor. He didn’t understand why I was hugging him and crying. I had been beside myself, since he was the whole reason I was bringing the new ferret home…. so he could have a companion again; and then to ironically lose him would have been just too much!
Therein lie my tales.
Great stories…. Thanks for sharing Betsey. I would have to consider you extremely lucky with these events. It amazes me that your ferrets found their way back home.
It sounds like you live in a rural area ? Perhaps that helped them find their way back to the only house nearby ?
I’m afraid mine would be so curious as to the endless supply of neighboring houses, bushes, flowers, fences, sidewalks, etc… that they would just keep exploring.
lucky ours have only ever got as far as the back yard. Our Milo boy, was running around the backyard, with our Rottweiller dog keeping an eye on him. The albino one Doritto, was found in semi darkness running around the corn patch. And Skittles was escaping from her cage, by squeezing through the bars like Hudini, lucky her venture has ever only been in the house or the garage. only one sho hasnt escaped is emily, but she curls up asleeep and you cant find her sometimes.
In a corn patch ? Wow ! Glad that turned out well for you and Doritto.
Thank goodness none of mine has ever escaped the house, however, back in 2004 I did have one get in the cupboad (the same cupboard they had been playing in for 9 years at the time) somehow find the gap between the cabinet and the dishwasher, then get into the crawlspace that runs below the laundry room. I looked for him all night thinking he got outside. I finally realized that crawlspace was the only place in the house I hadn’t checked. I hope that’s the closeset I ever come. Thank God this story and your story have a happy ending!
Glad yours didnt get too far Amanda. A few years ago, I did have one get under and behind the cupboards like you explained. He then somehow found his way UP INTO THE WALLS. You could hear him behind the drywall squirming about. I was able to take off a heating/cooling grated cover and finally retrieve him from the wall. The hole where the sink pipes exit the back of the cupboard was just big enough for him to squeeze through….
crazy creatures, huh
All 10 of ours are microchipped … one got away and the RSPCA found her, but they did not check for the microchip ….. we got her back because we foster all their rescues …..
They didnt even check ? Do they ever ? Sounds like a lazy work ethic to me
ur so lucky, i rescued my girl from being killed by the rspca for being feral, poor little girl was barely 3 months old an terriefied, the person caring for her freely admitted to hating ferrets and even told me she was annoyed i was adopting cause she was really looking forward to euthanising her. the rspca, act, australia is a truly horrid and corrupt organisation.
@Wayne, this dissapointing that she was not scanned. grr..
@Ashley, Thank goodness you were available for that little furry. I think a mouth full of obscenities would have flown out of my mouth towards that witch
Here is the scary thing. Up until 1995, a similar fate awaited any ferret in MI. One of the saddest stories I heard about is a ferret who was confiscated from its owner’s apartment by DNR officers, put in a car trunk, then shot because they didn’t want to bother filling out the necessary paperwork to transfer it to animal contol, or whereever a confiscated ferret would have gone back then. If you want to read more go to ferret.org. its under the news archives under “Michigan, oblivian and back”
I think I would probably end up in jail before a DNR officer left my house with my ferrets. Very sad story.
Jeff I tries to complain but was wholly ignored. Luckily a good friend of mine has her job now and needless euthanasia numbers are down significantly.
That is very very sad Ashley. Glad to hear your friends is making a difference.
very lucky it was spotted !
Yes, that is for sure. I still get a sickening feeling when I think about what could have happened…