Dear FML,
 
I have been a subscriber for three years.  I un-subscribed for a while.
Now I'm back.  Most days I just scan the titles of posts for items of
personal interest.  I am writing today because I just want to put in my two
cents worth on something that has bothered me from personal experience, and
from reading posts.  Nobody should flame,judge, or put down another person
who loves their ferrets, and makes choices that they do not agree with.
 
Let's talk numbers first.  There are income brackets that meet federal
guidelines for poverty.  When one lives in poverty one tries to live a
"normal" life, but it is hard.  All around are people who can afford to
judge you, and who have never been so poor for so long, as to really
understand.
 
This does not mean that nobody cares, or understands, it just means that
most people do not.  I know, I have been there.  I had ferrets while I was
poor, and I have ferrets now that I have a better job.  My ferrets were
cared for as well as I was able, on my income then, and they are now.
Nobody should judge another person's finnances and pet ownership.
 
To look at this issue we have to look at one of the oldest debates known to
man.  Euthansia, and suicide.  There will always be people who disagree on
these subjects.  For the poor, health care for themselves, and their pets
is limited by finances.
 
To say that another person who is better off should help assumes that those
who are better off would help willingly.  Let's not go there.  The fact
of the matter is that when I was poor I knew that I could ask, and others
could say no.  I did ask, and sometimes I got help from people, and
sometimes I didn't.  I loved my ferrets then, I love my ferrets now.  I
feel that it is up to the person who owns the ferret to decide whether or
not to spend money, borrow money, or accept help for their ferret when it
needs expensive medical care.
 
As much as I might have wanted my ferrets to receive top notch medical
care, sometimes they did not.  I am not a bad person, nor does that
indicate that I am not "fit" to own ferrets.  The fact of the matter is
that those of us who are ferret-knowledgeable, and those who are not,
represent a big leap in quality of life for the ferret.  A poor person who
does their best is still doing better than an ignorant person who gets a
ferret at a pet shop and neglects it.  I have a hunch that those ignorant
ones far out number the knowlegeable ones.  The ferrets whose owners cannot
afford medical care, but who know how to love and care for them are far
better off than the majority of the little ones we see in pet shops who are
purchased, and who probably die of ignorance by the thousands, every year.
Don't harass each other on minor issues.  This list represents a forum
where people should feel safe, and be able to learn how to be the best
ferret owners they can, regardless of income bracket or choices in quality
or type of medical care they can afford.
 
Dawn
[Posted in FML issue 3178]