About Motor City Ferrets

Opened in the spring of 2000, Motor City Ferrets is a private, no-kill ferret shelter & rescue service.  We are registered as a Non-Profit Charity (501(c)(3)), licensed and annually inspected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.  Located in Hazel Park, we serve the greater Detroit metro area.  Browse our site to learn about the Shelter, meet the critters up for adoption, get health & care information, find supplies, or locate a vet or ferret-sitter! 

6/20/20:  We currently have 24 critters in the Shelter!

An old man was walking along a beach after a particularly high and violent tide had receded, leaving thousands of starfish stranded above the waterline to die. Up ahead of him, he saw a youth repeatedly bend down, stand, then fling something into the waves. Coming closer, he saw that the youth was tossing starfish back into the ocean.  "Why bother?" the old man told the youth. "There are thousands here. You can't toss them all back before they die. You can't even toss a small fraction of them back in time. What you're doing doesn't matter."  The youth pondered what the man said for a moment, looking at the starfish he held in his hand.  
   
"It matters to this one," he replied, and threw it back into the water.
 

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
- Gandhi

Rescue ONE until
there are NONE!

If you or someone you know plans to surrender a pet to a municipal type shelter, please click here.

Please don't breed or buy 
while pets in shelters die!

Ferrets rescued to date: 1196

   The shelter is currently closed for normal, in-person visits.  During the closure we will continue to accept surrenders, offer boarding services, and our shop is open for mail or porch pick up orders.  We're also about to embark on an outdoor visit plan for the summer - read on for details on our current plan!

VISITS:  In normal times, we have Open House events most Sundays.  Open House dates are for folks to visit the shelter just to hang out and play with the critters, bring their ferrets for a playdate, or if they're interested in adopting, to have a first visit after applying to adopt.  We closed for normal visits mid-March.  And because we operate in our home, we really aren't keen to have visitors in again until there's a vaccine!  

We thought we'd take advantage of the fact the weather is nice enough to meet outside and start having visits again, and most importantly doing adoptions!  But there's a complication right off the bat with any such planning:  while we humans can mask up and keep away from one another, were you aware that ferrets can catch Covid 19?  Ferrets are often used in laboratory research for human respiratory issues.  We now have a paper from a study in which ferrets were given the corona virus.  The research considered whether ferrets can catch the virus (they can), and how easily they are able to spread it to one another (easily).  The good news is that the virus didn't seem to make the ferrets very sick.  But of course what no one is going to test is the most important question for us:  can ferrets then pass the virus back to humans, and if so, how easily???  Once you consider that ferrets can contract Covid 19, but we have no idea how easily, or if they can pass back to humans, you can see how difficult it's been to formulate even an outdoor plan!  

We'll have our outdoor playpen setup all summer long!

OPEN HOUSE EVENTS:  we will be scheduling some Open House dates, but because we're using our backyard, you can imagine that we're going to be at the mercy of the weather.  We'll be updating our Calendar a couple of times per week.  If you'd like to come to an Open House, contact the shelter.  We're going to be invite only, and we'll make sure to collect contact information for all visitors.  During the Open House dates, unlike normal times we won't be able to have people bringing their ferrets over for a playdate.  We'll have some of our critters in our outdoor playpen, which is large enough for folks to see the ferrets while still maintaining distance.  MASKS MANDATORY!!

ADOPTION:  If you're interested in adopting, visit the Adoption tab above and submit and adoption application.  If approved, we'll invite you to come by an Open House date, so we can chat and figure a way forward.  We'll be scheduling individual adoption appointments, again weather dependant as we'll be outside, and you will be able to bring any existing ferrets over so they can choose their new buddy, which is a critical feature of our normal adoption process.

SHOP:  Normally folks are welcome to come by during our Open House events to visit our Shelter Shop.  For the time being, you can peruse the selection of most goods in our Etsy shop (visit Supplies & Goodies tab above), then message to place an order for local pickup.  Folks will be able to go into the house and visit the shop, one at a time, during our Open House events as well.

VET CARE:  Our vet, North Hills Veterinary Hospital in Rochester Hills, is open for care now - but only critters are allowed in the building, for the foreseeable future.  Curbside service will see your critter(s) picked up from your car, then you and the vet can have a regular consult via phone.  We trust North Hills completely and are pleased to see them moving forward with a safe plan.  

And of course we're always here for advice.  But remember to always call in to the shelter if the need is urgent!

Visiting with the local ferret community is such an important part of our rescue mission, we've missed being able to have folks over!  We appreciate your patience as we move forward with our outdoor plan, as it's going to be tricky to work out since we'll be weather dependent.  But with enough patience we'll all get through these trying times.  So to our local ferret friends, we do hope to see you soon!