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

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

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