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

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!