Ferrets and Furniture

I’m seriously considering changing Kaos’ name to Tin Tin because I thought the Advertures of Kaos doesn’t quite have the same ring to it (apologies to Herge!).

There is just something about a ferret’s adventurous spirit that is quite appealing but it can also be quite infuriating and today it was the latter emotion which I felt.

After enduring years of our lounge suite looking shabbier and shabbier, thanks mainly to the cats sharpening their claws on the chairs and even marking their territory, I finally decided enough was enough. I dragged Philip out on a Saturday morning and we went looking for new furniture.

To my surprise, we found a suite which was pretty comfortable and not horrendously expensive at the first store we visited. I checked the workmanship through the eyes of a ferret owner … was there any area where the ferrets could scratch and make a hole to get inside the chairs. It looked pretty solid and the fabric was tough, so I decided it had passed the test and said, “We’ll take it!”

The chairs and sofa were delivered yesterday and you can imagine the scene. Six highly inquisitive ferrets sniffing and snuffling around the sides, on the cushions, around the arms – a couple scratched away at the sides but then they got bored and drifted away.

I was relieved and pleased with myself for my excellent choice, until the next morning …

I saw Kaos mooching around while I was preparing their smoothy and by the time I poured it into their dish and called them, I had Milo and Muis at my feet. Took the dish to the bedroom, served the smoothy up and everyone but Kaos was lapping the liquid up.

That caused warning bells to go off, because she’s always itching to have her smoothy and is the first in the queue every morning.

I called her and heard her bell tinkling so walked towards the sitting room. No Kaos. Hmmm, I thought, must have gone through the dining room to the kitchen. I followed that route and still no Kaos, but I could still hear a very vague sound from the sitting room.

I backtracked, calling her and then my heart sank. She was INSIDE the sofa! I could see movement and heard her scratching away, and I didn’t know how in God’s name she got in so didn’t know how I would get her out.

I threw the cushions off the sofa and felt around the sides but there weren’t any gaps. I tipped the sofa onto its back and checked the base. No gaps there either. She was scratching away inside and I was getting more panicky about what to do. My first thought was to get a knife and make a slit so that she could drop through it but I knew if I did that, it would be the end of my nice new sofa. Then sanity prevailed – Kaos got in so there must be a way for her to get out.

I moved my hands up under the cushions on the back and finally found a small gap at the top of the edge on each side.

Only a ferret could have found that gap!

I went to get the squeaky toy to draw her towards the gap but by the time I got back to the sitting room, she was out and wandering around as if nothing had happened. The wretch.

Oh the joys of ferret ownership!

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