Ferret Legends of the Fall

Fall is a great season for ferrets to enjoy the outdoors.  They love cool, crisp, dry air.  Unlike summer, where the heat often produces a little lethargy, fall is a time when they might enjoy some time outside.  However, use caution when allowing your fuzzies access to the great outdoors.

To Leash or Not To Leash?
Some people like the idea of "walking the ferret" in the park.  Talk about turning heads!  Some ferret owners have been able to get their ferrets used to a leash and walk them as you would a dog.  However, BEWARE OF LEASHES.  Follow these tips:

• Always use a harness for ferrets.  A harness has straps that go around the neck and around the belly, behind the front legs.  Using only a collar attached to a leash can be dangerous for several reasons.  Ferrets are squirmy little critters and may be able to slither out of a collar.  (They may be able to squirm out of a harness too, so you have to be careful.)  Ferrets do not have thick, strong necks like dogs.  If your ferret is wearing only a collar, when you pull on the leash, you are pulling directly on his or her neck, which increases the risk of neck and spinal injury.  A harness distributes the stress when you pull on the leash.

• Don't let your ferret get too far away from you (don't use a very long leash), as this can increase the risk of the ferret getting stepped on by someone walking by, or any number of other dangerous scenarios.

• Only walk your ferret in a clean, grassy area -- in your backyard or in a quiet park.  Ferrets, unlike cats and dogs, might try to eat odd objects they find in a street or sidewalk.  Swallowing one of these objects could cause a bowel obstruction.

• Do not walk your ferret on a sidewalk in a busy or heavily-populated area.  Other people will be out there walking their dogs (or cats or iguanas or whatever), so you have to think about your ferret interacting with other animals.  It can take only a second for a large dog to get a ferret's neck in its mouth and snap the poor little fuzzy in two.  I've seen dogs do this to cats, and ferrets are even smaller and more vulnerable.

Click here for more photos of walking a ferret on a leash.

Outdoor Pens
An outdoor pen is a much safer way to let your ferrets experience the fall season outdoors.  You can put the pen in a shady spot in your backyard and let your fuzzies get some fresh air while they run around inside a safe environment.  Tips on outdoor pens:

• Make sure the pen has a wire floor or a solid floor of some kind.  Ferrets are burrowing creatures.  If the pen has no bottom and is just sitting on the grass, they will dig their way out from under it and escape in no time.  Plus, they will turn a lovely grassy spot into a pile of dirt!

• You could use a "dog run" type pen which is open at the top, but I do NOT recommend this.  Ferrets are excellent climbers, and most will be able to climb up a wire fence or wire mesh and get out.  Also, birds of prey (hawks, eagles, etc.) and mammals of prey (raccoons, opossums, etc.) would be able to get inside a pen with an open top and could harm your babies.  And most dog runs and standard chain link fences have openings large enough for a ferret to get through.  Remember -- if the ferret's head can fit through the opening, so will the rest of its body.  Ferrets have a remarkable ability to flatten out or squeeze their bodies through any space large enough for their heads.  A ferret's head is one of the only parts of its body which is hard and not malleable.  If the head can go, so can the rest!

• Don't put the pen in a sunny spot -- it may get too hot for the ferrets.  Even on a cool fall day, a sunny spot can become quite warm.  Always attach a thermometer to the outside of the pen so that you can monitor the temperature.  If it is a very large pen, it is fine if part of the pen is in the sun and part in the shade.  But remember that the sun moves across the sky throughout the day, so if you are leaving the ferrets outside for several hours, you will need to monitor the path the sun travels across the pen.  If by the third hour, the pen is entirely in the sun, your ferrets could suffer heat exposure.  Ferrets need to be in temperatures (indoors or out) no higher than 75 degrees.  Likewise, they should not be left outdoors for any length of time if too cool (below 60 degrees).

• You may want to put a carrier -- like that which you use to take ferrets or cats to the vet -- inside the pen (with a towel inside the carrier) as a place for the ferrets to curl up for a nap.  If there are any sunny spots in the pen, place the carrier in a shady area of the pen.  In a sunny spot, it may become too hot inside the carrier.

• Always have a supply of fresh, clean drinking water and a bowl of food in the outdoor cage or pen.  If your pen has a wire bottom, you may not be concerned with a litter box since the poop will go right through onto the ground.  But if you don't want "ferret fertilizer" on your grass, provide a litter box as well.

• If it starts to rain, bring the ferrets back in!  Do NOT leave them out in the elements.

Enjoy the fall!

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