Click Here to fill out our Adoption
Application.
If you are interested in adding a ferret to your household, there
are several places you can turn. You can purchase a ferret from
a pet store, from a breeder, or from an existing owner, such as
through a newspaper. Or you can choose to adopt a ferret from your
local shelter. There are benefits and drawbacks to each of these
options. At the Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association, we hope
that you will at least consider adoption before making your final
decision.
This page will give you a brief introduction to the procedures
for adoption held at all branches of the PFRA. If you are interested
in seeing some of the ferrets available for adoption, please
see the Local Branches page and select
the shelter branch nearest you.
Please note: We will only adopt ferrets
to homes within 150 miles of the adopting shelter branch, and we
do not ship. You must also be able to visit the shelter
at least one time before adoption. If you live out of this range,
or are unable to meet these requirements, please visit
The American Ferret Association's Shelter List and
Ferret Central's Resource Database to locate the shelter nearest
to you.
Application Procedure
Before you can take a ferret home from the Pennsylvania Ferret
Rescue Association, you must go through our standard application
procedure. This procedure is not a quick, simple process. We hope
that any applicant interested in adoption will understand our thorough
process. The ferrets in our care have been given up once in their
lifetime, and we do all that we can to make sure it never happens
again. Our approval process consists of three main steps:
- Application: All interested parties must fill out an
adoption application. This will help us to learn some basic information
about the applicant. Click here
for our application.
- Telephone Interview: Once your application has been received
and reviewed, we require a telephone interview. At this stage
of the approval process, we try to learn more about your knowledge
and experience with ferrets, any prior ferret ownership history,
and about your home and lifestyle so that we can determine if
there may be a good match for you at the shelter.
- Shelter Visit(s): Each applicant is required to make
at least one, sometimes two, visits to the shelter before he or
she may take a ferret home. The first visit serves as a formal
interview. After this interview, the applicant may be invited
to meet some of the ferrets available for adoption. Applicants
are encouraged to bring their ferrets, if any, to the shelter
during a shelter visit to observe the interaction between the
ferrets (all original ferrets must be up-to-date on vaccinations
and ADV negative within the last six months). On your final visit
to the shelter, assuming that you have been approved for adoption,
you will be able to take your new furry friend(s) home with you
after signing all paperwork and paying your adoption fee.
Requirements for Adoption
 While
we will consider applications from all interested parties, the PFRA
does have some requirements of adoption which must be met before
you are permitted to adopt. The PFRA does not have a standard checklist
of what makes the "ideal" home for a ferret, or "ideal" adoptive
"parents." Each ferret is different, and has different
needs. Therefore, the only real "rule" of ferret adoption from the
PFRA is that you must be approved through our adoption application
procedure. There are some restrictions on who we will adopt to,
however. If you have any questions about these restrictions, please
do not hesitate to contact us.
We will not adopt a ferret to anyone who:
- Is under 21 years of age. We will, however, consider the application
of a parent of a person under this age.
- Does not have a good understanding of the needs of ferrets and
the responsibility required for good ownership. We will be happy
to help educate any applicant who wishes to become more knowledgable,
and we do welcome applicants to volunteer at the shelter for a
period of time while learning more about ferrets.
- Does not have the means to provide appropriate food, medical
care, and attention to a ferret. (Note: we do not ask of applicants
any questions regarding income of financial status. We do, however,
provide information about the likely costs to be incurred and
ask that applicants think seriously whether they will be able
to bear this financial burden throughout the life of the ferret.)
- Wishes to adopt a ferret for any reason other than to be a cherished
family pet. Ferrets adopted may not be used for any working purpose,
such as hunting, nor will we adopt ferrets to be used as classroom
pets, petting zoo animals, etc.
- Is not willing to comply with all requirements presented in
our adoption contract. If you would like to review a copy of our
adoption contract, please contact your nearest PFRA shelter.
Once a ferret is adopted from the PFRA, we expect that the relationship
between adoptive party and the shelter will be ongoing. We ask for
occasional updates, and we reserve the right to contact adoptive
parties for follow-up purposes. This allows us not only to keep
track of the ferrets that we have placed, but also to provide an
ongoing resource for the ferret owner to ask questions and continually
learn more about ferrets.
Adoption Fees
 The
Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association does charge an adoption fee
for any ferrets adopted from our facilities. The typical adoption
fee for a single ferret is $75, or $125 for a pair. This fee may
vary, however, depending on the age, temperment, health, and special
circumstances of the ferret. This fee is used to help defray the
high cost of caring for and maintaining the health of ferrets residing
in the Rescue.
A word about adoption fees: no matter what shelter you adopt a
ferret from, the same story applies. Ferret shelters make absolutely
no profit off of adoption fees. In fact, shelters that do not employ
some other means of fundraising do lose money. The shelter moms
and dads out there are pouring their hearts out for these little
fuzzies in need, but at the same time they also pour out their bank
accounts. A standard adoption fee of $75, for example, wouldn't
even cover the expense that the shelter director spent in the first
week that the ferret came to the shelter. Food, cage, litter, and
especially medical care (no ferret gets by without, at the minimum,
a vet check, rabies shot, and distemper vaccine) really adds up
when a shelter has 20-40 or more residents. This does not even take
into consideration the number of ill, elderly, and abused ferrets
that become permanent residents of the shelter. If you are considering
adopting a ferret from a shelter, or if you simply believe in the
work that we shelter directors do, consider donating a little extra
to the shelter of your choice. Every little bit helps, and the ferrets
will love you for it.
Want to see some of the ferrets awaiting loving homes from the
Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association? Visit the Local
Branches page of this site!
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