Hotels/Motels, traveling with emotional support animal
 

Hello, I'm new and a bit lost. If I'm not in the right place, please redirect me. Thanks.:)

I'm allergic to both dogs and cats, but found that a ferret is non-allergic for me. I have had a ferret as an emotional support animal for over 10 years. I have a letter form my psychiatrist stating the reason I need a support animal, as well as the dog/cat allergy.

I'll be traveling for the first time with my ferret. Does the housing regulation that allows my ferret to live with me in a "no pet" section of my housing unit also allow me to bring her into hotels/motels? I don't need to take her out in public, except while I'm traveling and between lodgings. I'll be driving across country, so there will be plenty of little motels and quick food stops.

What paper work do I need besides the Dr's letter? I'd like to take ADA-related, official regulations to help smooth any confusion along the way.

Thank you all for your help. Jeanne

Hi
I wanted to welcome you tho I dont have any info on traveling with a ferret!

hopefully someone with knowledge on what you would need will be along soon

Thank you, Chemar.

I wonder if it might be easier to get an answer if we pretend (for this discussion) that the ferret is a dog?

Perhaps someone has travelled with an emotional support dog?

Thank you, again.

there are a number of threads on this forum re travel with support animals

here is one
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread10461.html

I would think you may need back up letters from your physician etc as many establishments do have very strict pet regulations

Thanks to everyone.

I finally found the threads to traveling with pets. Hadn't found my way around yet.

I'd still like to hear from anyone who has traveled with a ferret, but I've got everything I need to hit the road for now.

Thanks!

Jeanne

On the Road again
 

Hello all,

Thanks for the great support. I appreciate it.

I'm on the road -- alone. The Doc didn't follow my printed example that I downloaded from a link I found here. When the letter was written up, she left a lot out and then had her nurse sign it. She then left on vacation, so there was no way to get another in time for me to leave. So, without a current letter, and this one's grossly inadequate to begin with, I had to leave dear Charumati at a ferret foster mom's place for boarding.

I'm driving alone.

To make matters worse, my GPS unit went on the fritz, and I'm off my planned route to get it replaced. So, I'm having quite a time keeping myself calm and in condition to drive. That slows things down quite a bit. Thank goodness for anti-anxiety meds, but I still need to stay clear headed to drive safely. It's a delicate balance. I'm trying to just keep the edge off, and white-knuckle it along. Judging by the reactions of people around me, I must be blending into traffic well enough.

I really didn't truly appreciate all that my little ferret does for me, but will certainly never try to travel without her again!

I've missed the alarm every morning since she's been gone, and have had to scramble to get checked out of the motels before the 11am departure requirements. Well, at least we know my body's adrenaline factory works. (wink) So much for my usual 10 hour driving days.

Past trips were always easier because Charumati woke me up and helped me get moving in the morning, as well as the natural calming affect of having an animal along.

The stress of having her along without the necessary papers would have been so much worse, as I'd have obsessed over the high likelihood that she would be confiscated and killed. At least I have the calming knowledge that she's staying with a ferret-knowledgeable woman.

Well, off to another day of driving. I can already see that this trip is going to be days longer than it would have. I'm never going to do this alone again!

Thanks, for listening.

Jeanne

One thing to be aware of, particularly if driving cross country, is that Ferrets are illegal in a few stats. I'm originally from California, and they are not allowed to cross the boarder; not sure about any other states but I know they are considered a "dangerous animal" in California, same as a pet skunk.

ferrets dangerous?
 

I would have never thought that any state would consider ferrets dangerous.

It really is strange. There seems to be a general hysteria in some places.

Some site a "vicious nature" of ferrets, while others say that if pet ferrets get loose they may become feral and decimate the local wildlife.

Pet ferrets are domesticated, and have been sited in Egyptian writing. They no longer have any way to survive in the wild. Pet ferrets released into the wild die quickly from lack of food and water, or from not recognizing the need to hide from predators. They don't live long enough to become feral.


Each year, a lot of dog bites are reported, many that cause injuries that require medical care. Pet ferrets don't bite that hard, or that often. So why don't people fear and ban dogs? (I love dogs, and am not saying they should be feared or banned.)

I was once in a restaurant with my little ferret safe in her car carrier. I was seated at a booth, with her car carrier on the seat between me and the wall. The waitress asked what animal I had, and when she heard it was a ferret, she was shocked and fearful. I assured her that ferrets are quite friendly and make very good pets.

About half an hour later, a little girl, about 4, who was seated across the room, screamed that my ferret bit her. The father brought her over to my table and demanded that the waitress call the police, animal control, and the health department. I assured him that my ferret hadn't gotten out of her carrier, and that neither of us had been within 10 feet of his daughter. He was irrational by then, and wouldn't hear anything I said. Finally, I asked him to show me her injury so I could spray it with a disinfectant. The little girl put up her arm, and showed a beautiful, healthy pink arm. No bite marks, no scratches, no marks at all.

That quieted things down, but I paid my bill and got away from them as quickly as possible. People are pretty irrational about ferrets sometimes.

Often, I think we as pet owners need to protect our pets from people more than people from our pets - as illustrated by your last post.

;)

More and more, hotels are becoming pet friendly though. They do have rules for bringing dogs and cats - the most common pets. Less common pts have not been taken into consideration yet. You may want to search for pet friendly hotels, and call those.

They may be willing to make an ecxeption for you if you have a certificate of health from you vet. I'd guess the ferret will need the same as my dog - all shots up to date, a crate, which he will have to be kept in while on premise, etc.

I would add this to all of us pet people. I love them all, every animal. I keep my pets restrained for their own safety. Not all people love them or feel safe around them. If anyone made a false accusation, my pet would pay the price, even though he didn't do anything - he can't talk and defend himself, and he has NO rights.

And there are always bigger stronger animals too, which could harm him.


Hopefully, next time you can take the little guy with you. I'm sure he'd enjoy the adventure.

Braingonebad (love that!)

You're absolutely right about the need to protect animals from the public. At 2 lbs, she's really vulnerable to being stepped on if she got loose in public. Who would see her if they weren't paying attention?

When we do travel, she came with me to CA this fall, I bring a large dog-style crate with us. She is comfortable and feels safe inside, and will go there for food, water, litter box, and hammock for sleeping.

She also loves to explore the hotel room, but I must first lay on the floor with a flashlight and look at the room from her point of view. Did the housekeeper vacuum under the bed? Are there dropped pills or other dangerous things in hard to reach places, like behind the furniture? She can squeeze though a hole 1.5 inches in diameter.

If a previous traveler dropped an aspirin and left it where ever it fell, and the maid couldn't get the vacuum into the crevice to get it out, she could die. Ferrets lick objects to explore them. One lick of an aspirin tablet would be all that was necessary to kill her. Even getting to a vet right away won't save her.

As parents/caregivers of animals, we have a responsibility to keep our animals safe so that they can help us.

In the same way, I take my responsibility to protect the hotel room from my ferret as seriously as protecting her from the room. I hope that by being a good visitor, we'll help the next ferret who tries to stay, have an easier time.

I have found that calling ahead will help, and refusing maid service will be even safer for my ferret.

Thanks to all, Jeanne

Ferrets.....
 

I can see a ferret being a good ESA (Eemotional Support Animal), and they are small and easy to transport. If the little girl in question HAD stuck a finger in the cage, the bite wouldn't have been on her arm...what about using screen material anyplace a finger can be stuck in to avoid the possibilty of a bite? It would show that you take the public's safety into consideration....and while you know he/she wouldn't bite, no one else does.

We have two Chihuahua mixes that go everywhere with us, both are trained for hearing assist and our female alerts to sugar highs and lows for my husband. Only state we have had real problems with taking them in was Arizona....we live in Washington state now and the stores, etc are very dog friendly here as far as service animals go.

I have trouble keeping people away from our dogs, everyone wants to pet them because they are so cute....and while they have never offered to bite anyone, I can't 100% say it would never happen. Bearbear broke his leg in 4 places in 2008 and he never offered to bite even though his was in pain, but that could have turned out very differently!

ESAs are legally pets and for the exception of no pet housing and airplanes, they do not have public access. This includes hotels. No matter what the species, ESAs are not allowed in no pet hotels or any other no pet public facility. I'm not allowed to post links yet, but if you go to the ADA website and search ESA, you will find the law.

lilfarfa, You are quite right. The law as been adjusted to specify more clearly what the different types of assistance animals are and are not allowed to do.

I have worried about this.

There is, as yet, no way I know that I can travel between my home and the pet friendly hotel at my destination without staying over at motels along the way. Picking a pet friendly motel is sometimes quite challenging, as in West Virginia, where all the motels I stopped at or called were venomously against having pets. I'm just not able to drive long enough to safely drive out of an area like that when I encounter them.

One place in WV wanted to charge me half a room fee for sleeping in my car in their parking lot. Imagine that.

In the future, when I can afford to have my motorhome repaired or replaced, I'll be able to avoid the whole not-pet motel problem. With no future travel scheduled, I hope to have enough saved up in a couple more years.

Have you tried La Quinta? They are extremely pet friendly.

Motel 6 is pet friendly!

There are a bunch of good places that are pet friendly, and La Quinta and Motel 6 are great examples. I stay at Motel 6 when I travel to see my sister, as there's one very near where she works.

The real problem is when I drive across the country, from AZ to MA. I don't know when I get in the car in the morning if this will be an 8hr driving day, or 10hrs, or only 4hrs. I drive until I'm ready to call it a day. Making advanced reservations doesn't give me the flexibility I need.

So, when the time comes, I rely on the highway signs to let me know what lodging is available. There are places in this country where the majority of available lodging not pet friendly. Motel 6 and La Quinta are prevalent, but not everywhere.

I now carry a laptop with wifi, and will pull off into a rest stop to check on available rooms. One problem with this, is that I have no idea what the zip code is, so I rely on where my GPS tells me I am. It can be quite challenging. This helps me find places that don't advertise on the highway, and to check the pet policy. I also get a better rate by booking over the internet before driving to the motel.

Challenges ... challenges ... LOL

Door Hanger-Hotel Motel-"Do Not Disturb Service Dog In Room"
 

I would not travel with out these.

Door Hanger-Hotel Motel-"Do Not Disturb Service Dog In Room"


http://www.workingservicedog.com/Ser...or_Hanger.aspx

http://www.workingservicedog.com/ima...oorHanger1.jpg