Sizzling Summer Safety

Beyond the rule about not leaving a pet of any kind in the car in the summer time, always take a frozen bottle of water (or two) along when traveling. You never know when you may have an accident or car trouble and lose your car's AC. A plastic milk carton or pop bottle filled with water and frozen can be wrapped in a towel and put into your pet carrier. It will keep your ferret, or other pet cool and it provides much needed water as it melts.

Here at the shelter we keep several bottles of water frozen in case our central air goes out or we lose our electricity (as happened last summer during a storm.)

Don't put your ferrets outside in a cage. One of the saddest stories I've heard is about the man who put his ferret out on the patio, in her cage in the shade, for an hour or so while he cleaned house. The sun came around and the shade disappeared and the ferret died. End of story. End of ferret.

Don't take your ferret for walks in the heat. In addition to the usual hazards posed for ferrets in public, such as escaping when frightened, bug bites (and perhaps consequent heart worm), and the neighbor's dog or kids, your ferret gets much hotter than you do. It's hotter where she is dancing along the sidewalk or street surface. Her metabolic rate is higher than yours, so her normal temperature is higher and she doesn't sweat to keep cool. So let's all just play inside, OK?

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