From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2005-05-18 11:17:33 UTC
Subject: RE: Ferret outings in the Heat - albinos & sun exposure
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <4952946.1116415053746.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> I am not a vet, but I have read that 80F is the maximum temperature that they can stand. I always make sure that my A/C is on if it's hotter than 80. My ferrets only go outside when it's between 60 and 80 degrees.
Heat definitely can be dangerous, but going out in 80 degree temperatures for a little while is not going to be harmful. If they're in the sun, that might be a different story, because that raises the heat over the reported temps.
Being in Miami, I have some experience with this. Monday night I got a call from someone locally that found a ferret in the backyard. She had been living under their shed at least since Saturday. The weather here has been in the mid-80's during the day with high humidity. They brough her over to me Monday night and she was just fine. She didn't instantly become injured by 80+ temperatures. And this is not an uncommon story.
After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, we were without power for a week or so. Temps were in the 90's! We were not at all prepared for this and besides, didn't have a lot of ferret knowledge. Our first ferret, Sidney, did just fine through this time and we did nothing special to keep him cool, though we were without any sort of supplies that we would have needed to do that. No power, no ice, not even water was working.
So yes, be careful. Don't push your luck, but don't think that 80 degrees is some magic number that's going to give your ferret heatstroke. It probably has a bit to do with acclimation too. A ferret that is accustomed to cool temperatures and is suddenly thrown into 85 degree, high humidity weather, is probably going to be stressed out by it a lot more than one is constantly exposed to it. Some people in Miami that don't know better do keep their ferrets outside.
mike