Wow, I can't believe it is almost May as April has just flown by. We, at South Shore Ferret Care were really busy getting ready for the Ferret Health Care Day and Rabies Clinic of last Saturday for most of the month. We had a great turn out, had 29 ferrets vaccinated, free ear cleaning and nail trimming and one surprise adoption! We sold loads of the limited edition Ferret Faces Greeting Card sets of 24 that we have featured on eBay, buckets of the Dry Dook Soup mix that has also been featured on eBay, as well as other assorted ferret health care items. We had lots of visitors and it was like an adoption reunion. For you shelter moms and dads you know the wonderful feeling of seeing a ferret that you brought back from the brink, restored to health and placed with a loving ferret family. Imagine seeing at least ten of your former babies showing up with their ferret brothers and sisters looking happy and robust in one day. The tears of joy are worth every tear of sadness shed. A day of seeing ferrets that you helped helps to balance all the ones we have lost this year and motivates you to keep on going. Oreo did a wonderful job hosting, three legs didn't slow him down although he was picky about whom he gave kisses to. Mr. Ferret's brother Henry, and sister Sissy were junior hosts as well, helping to tell the tale of Mr. Ferret, educating the public about how important it is to "do the right thing" for animals, and seek justice when the most basic of care is not given. One of the volunteers had a great question for me and while I had some suggestions, as the warmer weather approaches (it was 80 degrees here in Massachusetts yesterday), I wanted to ask for some more suggestions from all of you. Here is Lorna's question: "Seeing as this is my first summer with Rocky and Fidget I wanted to find out what you do to keep them cool. Seeing as spring has hit us with a vengeance the ferrets seem a little warm." Here are my suggestions so far, please post yours: (I am assuming that not everyone has central air-conditioning and not always a window air-conditioning unit in their ferret room) *Get an out door thermometer and place it in the room on the wall above the ferret cage, if the temperature is 78-80 that's the danger zone! *Ensure the ferrets are out of direct sunlight *Check on your ferret often, if you have someone at home or nearby who can check on them as well, make arrangements to do so. We do alot of "Ferret Day Care" here at South Shore Ferret Care as we have central air-conditioning to help out the local ferret people. *Watch the weather report if it's going to be over 85 degrees outside, it's going to be warm inside. If no one can check on them, make arrangements for them to be somewhere cool. *Use a pedestal fan to move air around the room but don't have it blowing directly on the ferrets. If possible add in a window fan with the air blowing out of the room. This way the hot air leaves the room and the pedestal fan circulates the air. Always ensure that ferrets are safely locked in their cages whenever fans are used or windows are open as ferrets can easily claw through screens and escape. Same is true for sliding glass doors, when screens are within reach they can claw through the screen as well and escape. (Last year we received a call that Mikey had clawed through the screen and was war dancing on a third floor balcony unaware of the danger he was in). *Freeze several 2 liter bottles with water and place them in the cage. During the day the bottles will thaw out and emit cool air in the cage, as well the bottles will sweat giving cool droplets for the ferrets to lick off it they so desire. Refreeze the bottles so you have several available. *Take a face cloth or hand towel, soak with water and freeze overnight. Place the frozen towel in a plastic grocery shopping bag that you have cut the handles off of and cut the bottom out of. Place the towel in between the layers and under a layer of bedding. When they are lying on the bottom, the cool will emit and even melted won't make much of a mess. The shopping bag will also double as a toy, (unless you have chewers, be careful). *If an option, move the ferrets to a lower level in the house as it is always cooler than upper floors, never attics. * Always provide a huge bowl of cool water as well as a large water bottle to ensure that they have plenty of water to drink and stay hydrated. I find a heavy ceramic dog bowl works well as it is not as easy to tip over or move around. Add in a couple of ice cubes which will keep the water cool (for a bit at least) and can double as a enrichment. A squirt of ferretone oil also entices them to drink more water. If you have some Ferret Aide a pinch of this will help with eletrolytes. Great Question, Lorna, I'm going to post it on the Ferret Mailing List to see what other suggestions people may have. Diane Wall South Shore Ferret Care [Posted in FML 5953]