Polecats want very fresh food, and wouldn't eat what you can find
in a garbage can. They are known to break the legs of their food
so it can't run away until it's time to eat, and have a neat
trick of paralysing frogs by biting them in the neck.
 
Problem is, ferrets get imprinted on what they eat the first 90
days, so if you raise a puppie on junk food, that's what it will
prefer for the rest of its life.
 
What I'd like to know is, what have the old healthy ferrets been
fed? Some people from our ferret organization went to England some
time ago, where they were much impressed with an eleven year old
female who had continued to win awards at an advanced age. The
only sign of age that showed on her was that if you looked
carefully, you could see that she had started to lose some fur on
her tail. They remarked that this was not yet a normal condition
in Sweden, and wished it was. Anybody know what the 17 year old
ferret was fed?
 
According to that visit, there must be lots of ferrets in England
that are not kept as cheap, working animals. Most people they
visited had them in their homes like cats, and one lady had even
kept one that was born blind, and it managed very well. (Probably
its like here with two classes of ferret owners: Working <>
Companions.)
 
The comment on "not beeing worth it taking them to a vet" prompts
me to tell you about medical costs in Sweden.
 
I've got mine insured, and as I've put a "value" of 0 on them (if
they die, I don't get money to buy new ones), and the more you
have, the less you pay, the cost for one year is about US$45.
If I go to the vet, I have to pay the first US$40 and 20% of the
remaining, up to a maximum of US$750.
 
Taking them to a routine visit, like listening to the lungs and
getting a receipt for antibiotics cost about US$20. If you take
them to an emergency visit, on non-office hours, you can expect
to pay US$55 for the examination. If they need a surgical
operation, it's about US$600 more, and about US$25 per day they
have to stay at the hospital.
 
All these fees are lower than for cats or dogs, "because the
ferrets are smaller". You can only insure them if they are
between 3 months and 8 years (which if I remember right is two
years less than for dogs).
--
 Urban Fredriksson  [log in to unmask]
 
[Your prices for visits are about the same as in Canada.  Spay/neuter
runs around $80-$130US, incremental descenting is about $40.  Our
previous vet charged $80US/hour for surgery 3 years ago.  Shots about
$15-25US/ea.  $5US/day for boarding.  $10/day for ICU (including
maintenance of intravenous).  Like you, out-of-hours visits are
expensive - about $80/US.]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0390]