Apologies BIG, for the length of this post.
 
Debbie wrote about losing two of her ferrets and recovering one... Debbie,
I'm glad you managed to catch one, and I hope you get your other baby back
home very soon.
 
Debbie also wrote the following:
>I rarely post, but my heart is so heavy for all the fuzzies who are in
>need, Kissy, Dusty and many more.....PLEASE STOP BREEDING FERRETS, if you
>love them, there are too many out there, you can't give them away, and
>this is really becoming a problem.  I don't care how great your genetic
>line is........and neither do the sad ferrets from MF.  You ARE just doing
>it for profit, no matter what you claim, and are no better than MF, you
>don't really love ferrets if you are breeding them.  This is a fact.
 
Now, I don't know if this was intended or not, but the above offended me.
You are essentially saying that I do not care for my ferrets, or ferrets in
general.  You are saying that my hours, days, weeks, months and years of
work with ferrets was for money!  You are saying that I am a selfish,
inconsiderate, self-serving person who would be better not having ferrets.
That is MY reading on the above.  You want to know why I read that?  Look
at it.  Really.  Just look at what you've said.  "If you love them", "You
ARE just doing it for profit", "no better than MF", "don't really love
ferrets"
 
You say this is fact.  No.  This is fiction.  I love my ferrets.  I do
what I can to *help* ferrets, and no matter what you, nor anyone else who
chooses to believe otherwise, can change *that* fact.
 
You think that I, as a breeder, make a profit for what I do?  How much
do you think we make?  Say I have a litter of six kits, my average, and
charged $100 per ferret, no, let's make it $150.  Just so I've got a better
chance of getting that profit you think I get.  That's more than the pet
stores charge.  Do you think that I, as a breeder, get all that money as
profit?  You're naive if you do.
 
Out of that money has to come food.  Now, I don't know about you, but the
food that I buy just went up $US5 a bag.  In the breeding season alone, the
food intake goes up.  It's summer, the ferrets play a heap, and they need
the extra food for when they're in season.  The males need the weight for
while they're in rut, and the females need the extra for their kits -
whether they're in season, pregnant or weaning them... In the winter, one
bag can last up to a month.  In the summer, the same size bag will last two
to three weeks *without* kits.  With kits, that same bag will last a week
at most, particularly once the kits hit four to five weeks of age.  Each
bag costs me approximately $US40.  Actually, it's more now, but who's
counting.  So, we're talking around five bags from the time the jill is
bred until the kits are four weeks of age.  From then on it's another bag
a week until they leave - which for me is thirteen weeks of age.  That's
another nine bags of food.  So, for food alone, from pregnancy until the
kits leave, that's only 14 bags of food... that's $560.  Okay, on top of
that food I give supplements.  I'll make those supplements real cheap.
Let's say I only spend $40 total on them.
 
You know, that's approaching $100 per kit just for their intake.  Oh well,
that still means I get $50 profit out of that $150 right?  Yeah, right.
 
Okay, these ferrets need vaccinations too.  After all, that's why I keep
them until 13 weeks of age.  Now, vaccinations cost me around $17.50 per
vaccination per animal, plus the vet visiting fee.  So, for the first
visit, I would have, just for parents and kits.... one visit fee of around
$15, plus eight shots.  That's another $155.  Oh, wait.  You know, the
parents only need one shot, but the kits need another two each.  So that's
another $240 for those two visits.
 
Let me see... Food and supplements cost $600; Vaccinations cost $395.
 
You know, even at $150 per animal, I actually lose over $15 per ferret.
That's if food, supplements and vaccinations were the only cost.  Heaven
forbid any of them gets sick!  You don't want to know the price of after
hours vet care here.  Heavens, you don't want to know the price of *normal*
vet care.  That doesn't sound like profit to me.  Wow, that sounds like bad
business.  Why the heck am I doing this idiocy anyway?
 
You know, the *only* reason I do this is because I love the ferrets.  I
don't want to see ferrets out there dying from wierd diseases and cancers
and if anything that I or any other breeder out there does something to
help in that regard then *more power to them*
 
You have the privilege of being able to think that we breed for profit.
But it gives you NO RIGHT to be able to tell us that we DO NOT CARE about
our ferrets!  Don't attempt to force your lack of knowledge and experience
onto me or anyone else here who is doing their level best to help the
ferrets.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 2789]