Apartment Pets

I have lived in rental places *all* my life. It has always been my experience that in fact, apartment rental places don’t pay attention to or care about anything that lives in a cage or tank (birds, reptiles, rodents, fish – and I’ve had them all except the fish.) “Pet friendly” is a simple way to let people know that they do accept cats and dogs (and to differentiate themselves from places that say NO PETS).

The biggest reason apartment managements choose to not have pets are these:
*Damage to carpets (pee, poop, scratching, fur, dander)
*Damage to the apartment structure (chewing on door frames, scratching up the doors)
*Pet messes left on premises from people walking their dogs (people who don’t poop scoop)
*Noise (barking)

Caged pets don’t have any of these issues. You will be 100% ok with having your ferrets. As a pet friendly rental place,I’m guessing they’d be fine with your cat, and even dog if you want, so long as you’re willing to pay the extra deposit and possible monthly pet rent. Just check with the management – some places have weight limits on pet size to keep dog sizes to the smaller breeds, and some limit the number of cats/dogs you can have (like, no more than 2 cats/dogs total).

I have always let my rental agencies know all the pets I have (right now, cat and cockatoo) and nobody’s ever cared about anything but the cats/dogs. (Even though IMHO they *should* care about the cockatoo – them’s noisy!!!)

Best of luck to you, and let us know how it goes 🙂

My experience was like Purplecat’s… each is individual! My experience was in the Houston, TX area and while there we toured and looked at dozens of apartments. I was concerned because I had birds and fish, and my roommate had a large dog, so we always asked the landlords/office what their pet policy was.

Some said no pets at all. We didn’t go any further with them!
Some said cats and dogs only, under a certain weight (I think 40lbs?) with a deposit.
Some said cats and dogs under a certain weight with a deposit and everything else they don’t care about.
I do remember one place did have a special clause for ferrets and treated them like cats, requiring a deposit.
A few places told me that they required a deposit (and it was $300 at one of them) for EACH animal we had excluding fish. So because I had three cockatiels that shared a cage I’d be required to pay a $900 deposit! Augh! We didn’t chose that apartment complex, obviously.

All I can suggest is that you ask up-front and be honest. Read your lease agreements very carefully before deciding and signing!

Yea, It all depends on the people and what they know about ferrets. I never have seemed to have noticed problems around here with them, (usually caged animals are okay unless the place is really strict) but some people think they will stink up the whole house which isn’t the case. I have ferrets and as long as you keep them clean they don’t really cause any harm in a no pet environment. As far as destruction, they don’t destroy my house, just all the stuff I have inside it 🙄

I suspected you let them have free reign; it really depends on the complex/landlord. Like the one I visited, they listed each ferret the same as a litter trained cat, so each needed a deposit. I hope it works out!

My sister had ferrets at one point and they had a faint musky smell. The scent stayed on my hands for a bit after holding them, but wasnt very strong. I only saw them once though, so I’m not a particularly reliable source of ferret info…except that i find them kinda cute.