ferrets and the heat ??

[scouse 0]

has anyone had problems with there ferrets when its been really hot ?? i got told they dont cope with high temps and there health goes downhill pretty quick in the heat . !!!!! cheers .

[Kay 3,709]

yep classic symptoms of heatstroke are a lifeless flat ferret who pants like a dog, remove from cage & submege in water (not stone cold )not the head , gently douse the head , place a filled bucket outdoors & you have it there incase you need it, cool said ferret down & make them drink. they recover as quick as they got sick basically

 

Place wet ferret in a carrier in a cool place with access to water & a towel leave them to recover keeping a close eye on them, just watch as the can also have the shits as well

 

Hope this helps

[Guest Bigbob]

Heats a bigger killer than the cold to a ferret

[ferret15 0]

freeze old pop bottles with water in and on a hot day put it in there cage if there hot they will lie next to it helps stop them getting to the the stage ferretlove mentions.

[COMPO 54]

Make sure that the cage/hutch is not in direct sun ( i use a parasol that came with teh garden set to cover the ferrets ) and make sure they have plenty of water , mine like a bowl to splash in/drink from!!

 

Last time one of mine got hot and displayed the symptoms above she died, its best to avoid than to try and cure with cold water etc...

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Yeppers. I'm with Compo on this one. Frozen bottles are fine, if ye there all day to replenish them. But far better to simply try to ensure it simply doesn't reach that point in the first place.

 

Now, at this point, my mind goes back to the idea I mooted on this very forum; About providing them a 'bunker', dug into the earth, to retreat into when the heat becomes intolerable. As I said then ~ I believe ~ the animals of the Serengetti f*ck off down holes during the heat.

 

Regards the dunking in a bucket of cold water, in case ye find ye've f*cked up and they've got heat exhaustion? I beg to differ.

 

Fred J. Taylor once had such an emergency on his hands and he, in blind fear of watching the ferret die, plunged it into a bucket of water. It survived. However, I'm ready to argue that it survived Twice. The 'Bodily Submersion Trick' being near as damnit as likely to harm the poor creature as the condition it's suggested to remedy.

 

I've had personal experiance of this shit. One of my own ferrets once, somehow, managed to get 'heat stroke'. I hadn't read Fred J's book by then. Doubt he'd even have written it at the time. But I acted as my own instincts dictated and saved that ferret.

 

Years later, while 'doing the ferret stand' at some show, my mate turned up in the afternoon and opened his boot to fetch his ferrets. One look and he was paralysed with shock. The whole lot were near as dead. Couple of hours in a car boot on a mid summer afternoon had done them no favours. Obviously.

 

Control was taken. Orders barked. Fences leapt. Water sought and found. But; Rather than allow matey to 'baptise' the lot in an ice cold bucket, I decreed we'd do things my way. Thus we layed the lot out on the grass and simply flicked water onto them. Just sprinkled them with gradually increasing ammounts of cool water. Massaging each one in turn, in order to ensure the little water reached their skins through the fur. Only once they were all showing clear signs of recovery were they allowed to lick a little water from our finger tips.

 

Suffice to say, within ten minutes of gasping, as that boot lid popped open, we had a full compliment of ready racers.

 

And now we need a Medic, please. Because I, obviously, set to on researching this whole phenominon. I honestly can't remember the details of what I discovered now. But it seems my own instincts were better than Fred J the Dunkers. It all has something to do with " Core Tempratures " etc. Something along the lines of the body fighting to protect the vital organs and thus 'stealing' any coolness available. I Think the craich is that, if ye dunk the whole body, ye stand to replace 'heat stroke' with Shock. Where as a gentle cooling of the skin allows the inner organs to suck in that initial coolness untill sated, then leave the less vital flesh and skin to take what It wants.

 

Anyway, that's how I handled it and I found medical science agreed with me. I'd certainly use the " Ditch " method again before ever trusting to luck with the 'Dunk'.

 

But, as Compo so rightly points out; Don't let it f*cking come to 'Life or Death'! Think Now and prepare yeself for the hellish heats to return

[OldTrapCollector 377]

Animals (or people) need to be rewarmed/cooled gradually in this situation. Immersion in cold water for hot ferrets might not be quite as bad as immersing in hot water for cold ferrets/people but it is still dangerous.

 

Gradual is the key word, things must be done slowly to avoid cold shock (vice versa) killing the patient rather than the heat stress itself.

 

OTC

[ferret15 0]

i would of thought it was commonsense to keep them out of the sun but it can get hot in the shade too so i put the pop bottles in any way half the time they just push them around playing but i like to think they have them there just in case. this is part of my prevention like i said before if this stops them getting to the stage of heat stroke ferretlove refers to them I'm happy ! i haven't had a ferret suffer from heat stroke yet touch wood and if i thought it was too hot for them i would bring them in doors in front of a fan. ditch i agree on the dunking thing if you think about it any sudden change in temperature will cause the body to go in to shock the body can not respond quick enough. something else i do is hose down the outside of the shed (this is where mine live ) early morning then it takes longer for it to heat up in the first place.

[Kay 3,709]

i would of thought it was commonsense to keep them out of the sun but it can get hot in the shade too so i put the pop bottles in any way half the time they just push them around playing but i like to think they have them there just in case. this is part of my prevention like i said before if this stops them getting to the stage of heat stroke ferretlove refers to them I'm happy ! i haven't had a ferret suffer from heat stroke yet touch wood and if i thought it was too hot for them i would bring them in doors in front of a fan. ditch i agree on the dunking thing if you think about it any sudden change in temperature will cause the body to go in to shock the body can not respond quick enough. something else i do is hose down the outside of the shed (this is where mine live ) early morning then it takes longer for it to heat up in the first place.

 

I have re reread my post & it does sound a bit dramatic , but i agree with the points made by Compo yourself Ditch the first time i found a ferret in the state of collapse with the classic symtoms i panniced so it was basically rushed in the house & where i had luckly just started to filll a washing up bowl for another job

 

Last year in the seering heat we had here i put thoese blue freezer blocks you get for cool boxes inside a sock & placed them round the run & inside the hutch, they seemed to work & would probably be better than leaving a running fan on the cage especially if your not at home to grab it when the weather turns to rain as it usually does

 

Also i placed wet bath towls over the roof of the cage , mine get no sun on them at all but there cage still gets hot inside & they do a lot of sleeping in the run area

[Guest MOLLY]

What heat

MOLL.

[ferret15 0]

What heat

MOLL.

it was 28 C here the other day

[Guest MOLLY]

I wish Ferret15. If you can find a small recess out of the cold wind here it might just make 18 Totally different from last year. Dust was blowing all over from the dry cracked ground in the farmyard last year, this year its been damp all year.

MOLL.

[ferret15 0]

hope you get some sun before winter arrives Autumn is my favorite time of year for obvious reasons and i think it is the most beautiful time of year as well.

[scouse 0]

what temps are we talking to give them problems ???

[ferret15 0]

it depends on how hot it get in their house if it feels hot to us its to hot for them i would say anything near to 19/20 degrees and your gonna have to start thinking if they are to hot. it might only be 16 or 17 according to the weather but you can add 2 or three degrees in the hutch hutches can become like little ovens very quickly. especially if they are in direct sunlight