Bob C mentioned somthing about it making him angry when he saw a person with
a houseload of ferrets and can't afford the bills, so the sick ones lead
shortened lives and die of untreated disease or injury.  Boy aint that the
truth!  We might love ferrets, or animals in general, and want to "save them
all" .  But as I have learned, until there is ferret medical insurance, or
you have a friendly vet who handles emergency's and takes payments, you
better set aside a medical checking acount with at least 100 dollars in it.
Or better yet, have the cash on hand.  I found out my vet refers to an
emergency vet hospital after hours.  And they only accept plasitc or cash.
Now wouldn't that be horrible for a ferret to die a needless and possibly
painfull death because some well meaning owner didn't have the money to get
treatment for the animal?  Caring for animals is a privilidge, not a right.
And with that privilidge comes immense responsibilites.  Be prepared folks.
We prepare ourselves for all kinds of catastrophies.  We buy car insurance,
fire insurance, medical and so on.  We dont plan on these things happening,
but we know they "might", and if they do we want to be ready.  So please, be
ready in case your ferret gets ill.  Make the necesarry calls to vets now.
Find out who handles your vets after hours calls.  Find out how much they
charge and in what form.  And save your money!  If you dont always have a
checking account brimming with cash, and you dont have credit cards this is
so important.  Ask yourself this....if my ferret got really ill tonight,
and needed emergency surgery or somthing, would I be able to handle it
financially?Could I give my ferret the care it needed?  If the answer is no,
then make it to where you could.  We owe them that much.
 
Good vs.  Bad adoptees....I have no idea of the screening procedures of all
the shelters, but I was wondering one thing.  I, myself keep all the vet
papers and records on hand.  How many shelters who adopt to people who
already have ferrets, ask for copys of such records??  Seems like a common
sense thing to do, so I figure there must be some at least.  It would be a
brilliant idea, to see if potential adoptee's are taking care of (medically)
the ferrets they have now.
 
On Dirt...I must agree with Edward's post about dirt.  I staked my guys out
in the yard yesterday and you have never seen such happy ferrets in your
life.  They dug, tore up my dafodils and had a generally ferrety time.
 
ON corn cob bedding.  I use it, but don't love it.  My guys tend to play in
it more than they do clay litter.
 
Chelle
and the Sooner Trio
[Posted in FML issue 2256]