Please cease sending me messages from this site.  Thank you for all
your work on the ferret issues...I have aged, and have no ferrets
now...the ferret dying deal (back when I was breeding a little, and
keeping a little, and buying a little, got to me...)
 
I am signing off from this wonderful ferret -loving world by advising you
that I feel you are not living up to your responsibility in your FAQ, in
some ways:
 
You need to advise new ferret enthusiasts to stage their "love it, have
to have it" purchases...
 
Most of the big breeders don't get bothered about 5 or 15 or 30 deaths in
one year, but I see a lot of young folks who purchase 3 or 4 kits the
same year, at a show, or, they get one at a pet store, and then they want
one to play with the other one, and they are off and running, purchasing
3 kits in the same year.
 
I believe that screening at pet stores (ha, ha, like THAT will happen),
and from breeders) needs to include the warning about the inevitable
death staging deal...
 
Buyers need to know what they are signing up for:
 
1. Medical Bills for a wealthy person (it takes me $1200 to give a
ferret a good last 3 years of life), for gold standard care, on the East
Coast, with expert ferret vets).
 
2. Psychological Bills...so many deaths occur when you, yourself, are
experiencing deaths in your human family, if you are about 35, and you
get into the "ferret world".  Your parents will get old and sick, your
dog will get old and sick, and maybe your spouse gets a couple of
problems which require you to be the nurse for a couple of days or weeks,
and...life happens...
 
I have never seen a breeder, nor more than a couple of shelters at shows,
who evalutate the age of the buyer/adopter, or state up front that, "This
animal has a life span of 7 years."
 
So, off we go to the shelter.
 
3. New scenario: You are young and in love, at the mall, and "...what a
cute pet that might be...isn't he cute?!  " Well, there go you, your
cuddly new lover, and an apartment ferret...They call your ferret
club...do you tell them they will be in for insulinoma in 4 years?  Do
you pre-educate?
 
4. Oops, you got married, or not...and the stick turned blue...
 
When the kid gets there, the ferret gets put in the cage for about 6
months, or more, and then, one day, you call the shelter, and we get
the "...I had a baby, and I can't spend the time for D'weezel.."'
 
Did you pre-educate?
 
Or, you are moving - no pets allowed...call the shelter.  Oops, nobody
told me about this!
 
Well, I am signing off from this particular animal world, as I have
become the older person with the ferrets and parents and...well,, the
whole simultaneous death thing, but...I hope that you will include some
of this in your FAQ.
 
I personally think that no one should be able to access this site without
all this up front...
 
Maybe my text is not one that you will place into on your web site, but I
would be happy to see you do something with it, and edit it to your
heart's content...
 
I do not know how to post on websites..I just thought some people might
think about this, and maybe someone might feel it is worth placing into
the FAQ.
 
Death creeps up on you and your pets.  If you are fortunate, as I am, to
have some money to keep your old ferrets living in a fine manner through
a couple of years of declining health, then, lucky you!  However, having
a fine decline towards death does add up.  Most ferret owners never think
about that.
 
Mainly, the psychological debit exceeds the financial debit, at a certain
point.  If you are wealthy, and the only thing you really need to worry
about is making a good death for your ferret, then staging the buying,
and signing up for a "good death" is not an issue.  I personally have
observed that most ferrets are bought by young people who haven't even
thought about their own deaths, much less, their brand new cute kit!
 
It is an ethical issue I believe your web site, and all the others, do
not address correctly, for new ferret owners.
 
Signing off,
Diane Rogers, Founder
Baltimre Ferret Club
 
(Legal Disclaimer: I have written this without the approval or review of
the Baltimore Ferret Club...as Founder, I don't have to ask anybody about
anything, so...there it is...)
 
Yours,
Diane
 
[Moderator's note: Hmmm... except I don't have a website other than the
archives, nor does anyone maintain the FAQ (though we should start that
up again), but the perspective is appreciated nonetheless.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4565]