Speaking of which, my ferret got into the laundry one day and almost died.
But luckily, I found it, and he is still with us to this day.
(this happened last year*
A comment that is also applicable, I think, to the discussion on why insects (and other small creatures) can survive proportionately large falls, while humans cannot. Smaller animals ought to be able to withstand higher g-load accelerations than larger ones. Like your ferret showed.