Katherine wrote:
>Please, please, please think long and hard before you take in more ferrets
>(or any other animal).  They are expensive and if you can't take care of
>their medical needs, you shouldn't have them.
 
I have to say that I agree.  Money is a limited resource and pets do
require care so they need to be considered; we've had some who needed more
than $1,000 or $2,000 in medical care by themselves as individuals in their
final year and half.  This said there are sometimes creative ways to pay
the costs.  Some people take an extra job (seasonally or all the time
depending on how many ferrets they have) and everything from that goes to
savings for ferret costs.  Some work a certain amount into the yearly
budget, then cancel things like vacations or niceties like clothing if it's
worse than planned.  (That's what we do and we DO stick to our budget for
our non-essential expenses.) Some have an arrangement worked up with their
vet where they provide labor in exchange for part of the medical costs.
***Some arrange with shelters to become foster care givers who provide day
to day care and needs while the shelter covers all or most medical costs
and remains the official "owner" in the eyes of the law.  This last one is
probably THE best arrangement for students and others who are low on funds,
plus it really helps over-crowded shelters, so it's a marvelous arrangement
for ALL.***
 
Steve and I do not believe in the debt approach simply because debt is
much more expensive over the long run due to the interest costs so it will
negatively impact on your care monies more than the other methods (and a
bad credit rating could negatively impact on your ability to get a mortgage
at a decent interest rate if debt is not paid off, which also might
sometime diminish a ferret's quality of life -- or get a landlord throwing
you all out if you have no choice but to keep renting).  That said, there
are people who keep one card devoted to their ferret's emergency medical
needs and then pay it off as fast as possible to minimize losses to
interest due.  When that's done rapidly the interest expense makes sense
if it can't be done from pocket.
 
cion is that among the choices available: ***fostering when monies are
horribly tight***, extra work, barter when available, budgeting, plus
keeping the number of ferrets to a workable amount and making sure that not
too many are in the same age bracket (the best method to hopefully avoid
having several in final illnesses at once) pretty well everyone who has
the time, ability, etc.  to have ferrets.  (Take into account that if not
allowed in your housing then there could be the expenses of having to move
rapidly and losing your security deposit; also take into account that if
you live in an FFZ then there could be fines and court costs which may
range from the hundreds into the tens of thousands.)
 
The single best thing you can do is to stick to both the arrangement and
number of ferrets you can afford.  Kits or needy individuals are hard to
resist -- after all these years it's still hard, so I know -- but if you
get more than you can deal with (in playtimes, costs, poop patrol, personal
attention, awareness of early health problem indications, etc.) the ones
who will suffer the worst are the ferrets!!!!!!  Your self-control combined
with the most workable options can be the best gifts you ever give your
little ones.
 
Sukie
who is very glad that Steve and I stuck to no more than three at a time for
our first several years while we were still learning about early medical
symptoms and many other things since that really helped the ferrets in the
long run -- especially since there weren't things like the ferret webpages
which now-a-days people can read and memorize as well as possible before
moving on instead of learning the hard way like we had to do.  Want to
learn?  Go to places like http://www.ferretcentral.org (NOT .com which is a
totally different place), http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc, and get a copy of
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html to your vet and read it, too.  Pam
Greene's Ferret Central has a lot of useful links, too, for when you want
to know more!
[Posted in FML issue 2881]