Last night I got curious and decided to total up the amount of money my
ferrets have cost me over the course of their lifetimes.  The results were
amusing and staggering for the three - I started owning ferrets four years
ago and since that date, I've spent AT LEAST $1555 - this total is JUST
purchase cost (if any) and vet bills.
 
Approximating $10/month per ferret on food, these are the roughly estimated
totals per ferret, including cage, vet bills, food, and the cost of buying
the ferret.  I'm certain these values are close to the amount i've actually
spent:
 
Potpie: $1420 over 4 years, so $355/yr, $29.58/mo
Friday: $635 over 1 yr, 9 mo. so $30/mo
Noodle: $665 over 1 yr, 7 mo. so $35/mo
 
Basically each ferret costs $360-$420 a year for me to maintain.  This
includes illnesses and operations but doesn't include those little things
like toys and cage accessories and time spent playing with each ferret or
paying for damage caused by ferrets or paying to prevent possible ferret
damage.  I would hate to calculate time spent and what that equates to
financially (especially at my current and future salaries :).
 
Please take these averages into account if you're thinking of buying a
ferret but you're in a financially tight situation.  My ferrets have been
pretty reliably healthy - in four years my major vet costs have only been
one adrenal, one emergency vet visit due to household accident, and one bout
with ECE - so these costs are conceiveably LOW.  I have four ferrets @
roughly $400 ea./yr - it works out so that i'm spending about 8% of my
take-home salary on ferrets every year.  I could own another car for what my
current rate of spending on them is (or a much much nicer car than the one i
just bought).
 
Again, these are all rough totals.  I added each ferret up individually last
night - i keep very thorough vet records - but i dont remember exact totals
today (only to the nearest $50).
 
Melissa, thinking of starting a pet owners savings and loan
 
 ___ Melissa Litwicki __ [log in to unmask] ___
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 1816]