Storm Protection for Ferrets

If you live in areas where there are serious storms such as blizzards, tornadoes or hurricanes, always remember your pets when preparing your house.  Here's a checklist:

• Make sure you stock up on bottled water for both yourself and your pets.  If water mains are broken during a storm, tap water may become contaminated and undrinkable.  Your local media will likely have announcements to let you know if you should boil water before drinking.  You can choose to either boil tap water and then cool it down before giving it to pets, or give them bottled water.

• Stock up on ferret food -- whatever you normally feed them -- as well as additional supplements such as Ferretone.

• Keep the ferret cage away from windows during wind storms such as tornadoes, hurricanes and tropical storms.  If you will stay in a basement or other underground shelter during the wind storm, take the ferrets into the shelter with you.

• If you live in a flood zone and you do not plan to evacuate, make sure the ferret cage is placed as high as possible to prevent the ferrets from drowning if your house floods.

• If your power goes out, make sure you have the means to keep your pet from becoming uncomfortable.

  • If it's a summer storm, it may become very hot inside your house.  Ferrets can die in temperatures above 80 degrees.  If it's cooler outside, put your ferret cage outside in a shady spot.  Always supervise your ferrets when their cage is outside, and you might want to use locks on the cage doors to prevent your ferrets from escaping or another animal from getting in to harm them.  If you have a generator running to give you some temporary power, hook up a fan about 10 feet away from the cage to blow some cooler air in their direction.  You can also put a bowl of ice in front of the fan.  The air from the fan blowing over the ice bowl will help cool down the air flow.

  • If it's a winter storm, it may become very cold inside your house.  Ferrets can handle cold weather better than too-hot weather, but make sure the room where they stay does not fall below 50 degrees.  If you have a wood-burning fireplace, you can place their cage in the same room as the fireplace, but just not too close to the fire -- they will get too hot from the heat and you don't want anyone to run into the cage and knock it down too close to the flames.  Make sure they have plenty of towels or small blankets to curl up inside to keep warm.

• If you plan to evacuate, take your ferrets with you or board them in a kennel.  Do not leave them alone in a house which might lose power or become flooded or otherwise damaged (exposing them to the elements).  After the storm, if trees are down or roads closed, you may not be able to return to your house in time to feed them, give them fresh water or rescue them from exposure due to a damaged house.

• Talk to your ferrets, hold them, and play with them when you can during a storm period.  Your voice and touch will reassure them.  Like most animals, ferrets can sense bad weather as well as tension in their owners, and this creates some amount of stress for them.  Remind them that you love them and they will ride out the storm with you just fine.

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