Question: IS any shelter actually calling employers or is that just a
rumor?  It seems to me to be an extreme action.
 
Just a case in point (our's) of people having differing abilities to manage
money.  Steve and I live modestly -- very much so even now since we have
family we help.  We barely qualified for our 30 year mortgage when we got
it (with the bank working from how "standard" people manage money rather
than from our past record) and certainly never would have qualified if we
hadn't already saved a good bundle as a very large down-payment.  (In
Northern European nations people wait on lists for better housing while in
ones organized like the States for home purchases we wait while we save to
have enough of a down-payment -- everyone waits.) Anyway, partly by having
some raises and partly because of an investment we'd had finished up, but
mostly just from increasing our penny-pinching we were able to pay off the
mortgage -- for which we'd just barely qualified -- in 6 and 1/2 years
(saving more in interest not lost over the full 30 years than our home is
worth).  ***Money is what you what you make of it; that's why we have a
weekly budget book.*** There are a LOT of ways many people can scrimp, and
that money can then be redirected to vet care and other ferret essentials
as needed.
 
This isn't to say that there are not times when a shelter person has no
real choice but to refuse adoption (and some will sometimes then offer
fostering in which the shelter covers medical costs at a specific vet but
the person covers all daily concerns).  Certainly when a shelter person
is afraid for the animal's well-being then that adoption or foster
absolutely should NOT be made.  Still, I do think that calling employers
is extreme IF it is being done by anyone and I think that shelters need to
be reasonable -- otherwise they become "collectors" calling themselves
"shelters".
 
Those things said there's also responsibility at the home end -- for the
person who wants ferrets in his or her life, including to carefully SAVE
because daily and vet care do get expensive.  IN the last two months just
on vet care we have spent -- let's see: over $500 twice (over $1000 total)
on shots and exams for all seven (with one more still upcoming for Seven),
over $400 for ultrasounds of two organs, over $200 for Seven's extensive
dental work.  Warp will later need surgery for probable adrenal growth.
She is over 5 and 1/2, and Meeteetse is 7 and 1/4 so they will both need
at least one extra medical exam and probably testing later this year.  If
emergencies come up, as they often do (They tend to do that at least once
a year with ferrets.), especially with so many, and with some very
rambunctious and adventurous, and some older, then those will also cost.
In a few years it will be harder for us; circumstances led to us having
several in the same age bracket so at some point we will likely have many
needing extensive nursing and vet care and then passing away close together
in time.  We know what we face and have the background for it but it's
going to be he!!.  Now.  in terms of coats, granted, we live in one of the
most expensive areas in the States.  The living cost ratio for the part of
AZ where Steve's sister lives is 2x better to our 1, and for the part of FL
where my sister lives it's something like 2 and 1/2 to our one so on the
same income they have 2 to 2 and 1/2 times as far for their money to go --
have not verified these but they are numbers Steve ran into recently in a
paper, and they sure match-up for home size, recreation choices, and some
other things, but those people aren't much for saving they keep up with the
Joneses.  Still, that also means that most salaries are lower in some of
those areas for some occupations which don't have their high mobility so
things balance out for most.  It all still boils down to the same thing:
you MUST save if you are going to be responsible for the care of the
ferrets!
 
 :-) Oh, and forget about "keeping up with the Joneses" -- remember that
ferrets do that with turds and just think of a car, or place, or clothing
that you can't logically afford as a big ferret turd.  We find that ferrets
to have taught us in this regard, too, as well as in enjoying what we have
and laughing each day.
 
Now I expect that a few people on each side will get angry at me for
stating they have responsibilities, but anyone who has shared life with
ferrets for a long time will know I speak the simple truth from my own
viewpoint and from many years of ferrets as companions.  It's impossible
to do away with the responsibilities in ferret care, but it IS possible to
find ways to make things work for a wider range of people, though those are
NOT options easy to come by for anyone.  Every gain in life is balanced by
a sacrifice.  (Anyone who wants someone else to bear all the burdens while
having all the fun should have an electronic "pet" instead of a living
animal in his or her life.  Meanwhile, shelters need to be shelters and
not collectors.)
[Posted in FML issue 2932]