No doubt I can agree with what some of the shelters said about getting no
profits.  I don't know what profits are either!  I have 26 ferrets in my
shelter at this time.  I have probably taken in at least 30 ferrets over
the last two years and as much as I hate to say it I have only adopted out
about four to six ferrets in the past year.  Do you have any idea how much
money it costs me to buy VERY GOOD ferret foods for all of them each month?
90 pounds is a lot of food.  I know all the other shelters around the world
know exactly what I mean.  This doesn't include buying enough Hairball
Remedy, Ferretone, Ferretvite, and Ferret snacks every month to take care
of all of them or buying enough GOOD litter each month to clean my litter
boxes out everyday.  Can you imagine just how many bags of litter I go
through each month in order for me to keep 14 litter boxes cleaned and
filled each day?  It doesn't include buying toys, tubes, hammocks, litter
boxes, water bottles, food bowls, and everything else I have to buy when
something wears out.  I have cages that are absolutely falling apart.  I do
mean falling apart because during our move we loaded all the cages up in
the back of our truck and tied them down really good and then at 65 mph
down the road they all blew out and were bent, crushed, and banged up!  Now
all of my poor ferrets have to live in half-assed cages until I can come up
with several thousand dollars just to buy all new ones.  Hell I haven't
even mentioned the vet bills yet.  I owe one vet over $300 and another vet
$100 right now at this moment.  I also owe a very kind shelter (she knows
who she is) around $300 too.  I have owed this shelter owner for about a
year now.  This is just the tip of the iceberg!  I also have 2 Adrenal
Ferrets and one with Insulinoma.  I have only gotten about $100 worth of
donations in the past two years.  People want to dump their ferrets on me
all the time but they don't want to help me out.  It is really hard.  I
would give anything in this world to have both of these vets paid off and
to have about $1000 extra in my vet account so that when one of my ferrets
falls ill I can just head to the vet at the blink of an eye and not have to
worry about having enough money to cover just one visit at a time.  I get
up every morning and head straight to the ferret room to check every ferret
praying that none of them are sick for fear that if they are I might not
be able to take them to the vet this time.  It really sucks.  If there are
shelters out there in the world that are actually making a profit then I
wish they would contact me and fill me in on their secrets so that I can
make a little cash myself so that I can afford those cages that I so
desperately need and afford the vet care my ferrets all deserve.  Life as a
shelter is hard.  I do it for the love of the ferrets because there are no
other reasons.  I live it and I breathe it.  Thank you.
 
Michelle
Little Orphans Ferret Shelter & Rescue
http://www.homestead.com/littleorphansferrets/
[Posted in FML issue 3192]