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Post by aurra on May 31, 2022 10:31:11 GMT -5
I'm moving from Ontario to BC and I don't know how to get my ferrets there. I have 7. I haven't really checked much with airlines because they all just say cat and dog so I will need to send out emails but has anyone ever gotten on a flight with a ferret or multiple ferrets. I can bring some to a shelter and leave them for a week if I can't get them all there at one time. Are flights even safe? The drive would be 3 days or more. Same with a train ride. Any and all advice is welcomed. Thank you
UPDATE: thank you all for your advice. I can't seem to find an airline that allows ferrets in Canada. I have an SUV that we were going to ship so instead we're going to drive it with a homemade large cage in the back. This will hopefully keep them satisfied. I have 2 leashes that I will bring. Mine are sneaky and I wouldn't trust taking out more than 2 at a time. I am also planning on getting that Marshalls play pen thing with the bottom piece and setting it up in a motel with some of their toys and bedding. I'm hoping there's room in the room for this to work. I'm hoping to make this trip with just 2 overnight stays. I kind of wanted to just get one of those soft playpens that zip on the top for in the room but I don't know how ferret safe they are. Has anyone used this? I have chewers and climbers.. and one chunko that naps beside the food bowl
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Post by silentdook on Jun 1, 2022 16:42:30 GMT -5
American and Delta, and possibly Alaska Airlines are the only ones who even allow ferrets, (USian, not sure about Canadian airlines) and they must be taken to the Cargo Terminal in a hard airline-approved carrier with food and water supplied. No airlines allow ferrets in the cabin.
The cargo is temperature controlled and pressurized (it's not the baggage compartment). I had to fly my two from Newark to KC by a stopover, where they were checked on by a flight attendant. It wasn't awful, but heat is a concern in summer in the US on stopovers because the compartment is exposed while loading. My trip was in September on American.
I don't think trains allow them at all.
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Post by Charlie on Jun 1, 2022 22:14:45 GMT -5
My concern would be leaving them in the hands of someone else. I don't know what the airlines in Canada are like since I have never flown my pets anywhere, but I wouldn't leave them with someone else knowing how they treat luggage. lol I personally would drive and find hotels along the way that allow pets to stay the night. That way you can take all of them with you.
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vivi
Junior Member
Posts: 226 
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Post by vivi on Jun 2, 2022 12:27:06 GMT -5
I would agree with Charlie... 7 ferrets are ..a lof...3 days drive too...but it would be less complicated, less anxious and more controllable by you.
Take it easy and organize your road trip according a comfortable schedule for you.
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Post by unclejoe on Jun 2, 2022 20:11:00 GMT -5
We drove from Detroit to Florida (1100 mi) with 4 ferrets in a single carrier in a stuffed car, with 3 stopovers. We had leashes and we stopped to do walkies every few hrs, aside from fuel stops. The ferrets slept 90% of the time. When we moved to Tennessee (600+ mi) we had 7 ferrets in the cab of the moving van with a litter box, food and water and a couple beds behind the seat. It was a 10 hour drive with just pit stops and walkies, but they did fantastic, again sleeping most of the time. The real excitement started when we got to the not-yet-ferret-proofed house.
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Post by silentdook on Jun 3, 2022 12:01:07 GMT -5
The ferrets slept 90% of the time. THAT Right There is the beauty of any traveling with ferrets, mine slept through most of the day, and got up for our stops when we lived in the cab of a semi for a few years, although playtime was often a lot of war-dancing and tunneling in my (queen-size) bedcovers in the cab, LOL. Lengthy side note about airlines, The pet-friendly airlines use protocols to safeguard animal welfare. They face hefty fines if they don't, not to mention the damaging publicity when accidents do occasionally happen. Airlines have animal cargo specialists. The folks who handle baggage are not the same folks who handle Live Animal Cargo, which originates from a completely different terminal. Comparing them as one entity isn't fair and just spreads more fear. Private breeders besides Marshalls do fly kits and their other ferrets commercially, it's safer than having them transported in vans, which are not always climate controlled. Pets and livestock don't go into the same hold on the airplane, either, and are air-conditioned to a lower temp than even the passenger cabin. I'm sure mine just slept in their blankets on the trip. I was given updates about my ferrets on the hour-long stop-over. |
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Post by silentdook on Jun 3, 2022 12:28:08 GMT -5
One HUGE reminder, if you drive across country... Take the time and research ferret-friendly vets (emergency hours too) all along your way. It's better to take the time to be prepared than to scramble in an emergency if anything happens to them.
Use HARD carriers, because a soft carrier or light travel cage can be crushed or broken open in an accident, putting your fuzzies in extreme danger of being injured, or escaping and being lost in the confusion.
Best wishes.
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Post by Thérèse on Jun 3, 2022 14:22:36 GMT -5
I am in Australia, so completely different place but just wanted to give a warning about flying. A number of years back I flew to Tasmania from Canberra with my ferrets. Like elsewhere they flew in a separate hold. I was paranoid about them maybe overheating and kept on asking about the temperature whenever I rang to check details. It was at the end of Summer. Three ferrets travelled down with me. One died in Tasmania from hypothermia which I am sure he got on the flight. He was my whippet ferret, he was long and thin, Summer or Winter and weighed similar to a girl ferret, not at all like the other two, whose Summer weight was greater than his Winter weight ever was. Neither of the other two had any problems with the flight.
I suspect they put their carrier near a vent because of my constant checking that the temperature would not be too warm. I had been told the hold would be air conditioned and would be similar in temperature to the passenger cabin. When I sat down the air thingy was aimed straight at me and I was cold (it doesn't take much, I don't do well with the cold). I was relieved because I figured they would be fine as it was so cold in the plane. My boys were in Summer weight and the extreme chill of the air conditioner I think was what gave my boy hypothermia because it was a sudden drop from the everyday temperatures he was living with and his body type meant he had no insulation, the other two could deal with it as they were chunkier builds.
Just if you fly, don't push too much about the heat if you have petite ferrets that aren't in Winter mode, they put them near a vent and it may be too cold. Mostly it is the heat that is a worry with ferrets but they can get hypothermia too. Also if you are aware you will be able to get help sooner. I just thought my boy was being quiet because he was a home boy and felt overwhelmed by the unfamiliar place. Only when he was getting more and more dispirited did I realise he was sick and find a vet and then it was too late.
Not meaning to scare you but I would hate for anyone else to have that happen just because I didn't say something.
Hope your trip goes well however you travel.
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Post by Charlie on Jun 6, 2022 15:46:37 GMT -5
The ferrets slept 90% of the time. The pet-friendly airlines use protocols to safeguard animal welfare. They face hefty fines if they don't, not to mention the damaging publicity when accidents do occasionally happen. Airlines have animal cargo specialists. The folks who handle baggage are not the same folks who handle Live Animal Cargo, which originates from a completely different terminal. Comparing them as one entity isn't fair and just spreads more fear. Private breeders besides Marshalls do fly kits and their other ferrets commercially, it's safer than having them transported in vans, which are not always climate controlled. Pets and livestock don't go into the same hold on the airplane, either, and are air-conditioned to a lower temp than even the passenger cabin. I'm sure mine just slept in their blankets on the trip. I was given updates about my ferrets on the hour-long stop-over. In Canada it's hard even finding flights that allow animals. The major airlines seem rather picky in that they allow dogs and cats but other animals are questionable. I'm not even sure about some of the smaller airlines. I looked into a it long time ago and I had a hard time finding anything. I figured that the guys who handle the luggage are different then those who handle the animals but even then, I'm too paranoid to leave my animals with someone else I don't know. |
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Post by silentdook on Jun 8, 2022 17:52:46 GMT -5
Just if you fly, don't push too much about the heat if you have petite ferrets that aren't in Winter mode, they put them near a vent and it may be too cold. Mostly it is the heat that is a worry with ferrets but they can get hypothermia too. Oof, I'm so sorry. That's a very good point to make. Mine were allowed to have blankets in the carrier, and they had each other. One was a frail adrenal boy with very little fur (recently rescued from a fellow trucker), I didn't think about him getting cold. I'll bet he cuddled the other like mad! |
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Post by silentdook on Jun 8, 2022 17:55:34 GMT -5
>>I'm too paranoid to leave my animals with someone else I don't know. I do understand that feeling. I was in an emergency flight situation, so it was do it or leave them behind. |
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Post by Thérèse on Jun 9, 2022 15:04:43 GMT -5
My guys did have each other and they had a hammock with a blankie. It's just no-one thinks of ferrets and hypothermia, I hadn't but it can happen. I really do think they probably did put them right in front of the vent because I had talked so much about them not doing well with heat.
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