Ferret’s Adventures Abbreviated

By Nancy K. Crevier

It was a serendipitous glance out a basement window that returned Farrah the ferret to her 9-year-old owner last month, days after Nicole Germak and her family had decided that the little white pet, a domesticated member of the weasel family, was AWOL for good.

Nicole’s baby ferret, which in just a few short weeks had become “like a part of the family,” according to Nicole’s mother, Barbara Germak, slipped out of her cage and into the great outdoors one day last month.

“We looked everywhere and just couldn’t find her,” said Ms Germak. “We have so many woods, I knew we would never see Farrah again.”

Her daughter was heartbroken, though, as were the family’s two dogs, a miniature Schnauzer, who despite being bred as a “rat dog” had taken a liking to the ferret, and their Shih Tzu. “In the mornings, Farrah would sneak out of her cage and run downstairs to eat the dogs’ food and drink their water. I would crack up to see all three of them at the ‘trough’ eating. She was so tiny, but she had this immense presence over these dogs,” Ms Germak said.

Nicole decided, as a last resort, to put up 75 flyers in the neighborhood. Much to their surprise, Ms Germak received a call one day from a young man who said, “I think I have your ferret.”

He had been visiting a friend, hanging out in the basement, when he looked up and saw a small creature fall into the window well. They thought it was a rat, at first, the young man, whom Ms Germak knows only as “Oscar,” told her. But when they checked it out, they realized that it was a ferret.

Oscar returned the ferret to the Germak family after Nicole identified her as Farrah. After one more scare that evening when Farrah disappeared into the couch cushions for an hour, Nicole has rigged the ferret’s cage so that she is safe and sound, except when under strict supervision.

“We are so happy to have her back,” said Ms Germak. “She’s a very fun-loving little animal.”