Had to throw my response in here, as I hope some of the shelter moms and
dads will as well:
 
Kris wrote:
>Forgive me for sounding rude, but I am a little confused.  You say you
>run a shelter?  Don't you have a little *nest egg* set aside for when
>these types of unexpected expenses arise?  What would happen if let's say
>3 or 4 of your shelter babies came down with adrenal and needed surgery
>or treatment, are you prepared for that?  We all know how expensive
>ferrets can be, I am a bit surprised to read that you are a shelter and
>you are not prepared for ADV testing, which can be relatively cheap
>considering all the other expenses owning ferrets requires.
 
WOW!  Either this person is being deliberately insulting, or else just
has no experience or connection with shelters and has never personally
known a ferret shelter.  Since you state at the end of the post that you
don't mean to be insulting, I'm going to assume you simply know zip about
ferret shelters.
 
Ferret shelters across the nation would LOVE to have nest eggs.  I mean,
they'd really love it!  No towns or states give funds to ferret shelters.
They are on their own, and all they have at their disposal is the money
they are able to raise through adoptions, cage sales, selling various
items, donations, or, most often, their own funds that they kick in.
Some shelter operators are in personal debt to the tune of thousands of
dollars!!  Ferret sheltering is an expensive, often bare-bones-budget
endeavor.  There is no "extra" to set aside for future emergencies; there
are always ferrets that need it NOW.  If shelters didn't operate unless
they had several thousand dollars saved up for emergencies, they wouldn't
exist.  Until they are funded by states, or grants, sheltering is always
going to be an endeavor where there are more ferrets than funds.  To
date, no one has been able to think of a way for shelters to give
abandoned ferrets the costly care they need while still managing to
sit on a pile of dough.
 
No matter how "prepared" a shelter is, a few large surgeries can bankrupt
them until more funds come in.  In the meantime, ferrets keep being
surrendered, abandoned, dumped.  The shelters take them in even when
they have no funds left.  That's called "heroic" in my book.  What is
being said here is that Kim had no funds at this time, but took the
ferret in anyway.  That's how shelters work.  If you worked with any,
you'd know that.  It is a day-to-day struggle to run a ferret shelter
and, unfortunately, more people take the time to criticize shelters
than to pitch in and help them out.
 
Yes, ADV testing can be relatively cheap...per one ferret!  Some shelters
take in over 30 ferrets per month during certain time periods.  Think
it's cheap to test 30+ ferrets in a month??
 
Kris wrote:
>I would hope that if you are a shelter, you would be more prepared for
>these type of incidents.
 
Who are you to judge that because of this one case, Kim is across the
board "not prepared" and can't handle ADV testing?  This ferret happened
to come in when the funds were low.  Ferret shelters do not have
unlimited funds, nor do many have funds they can sock away and never
touch.  Most shelters try to have an "ADV Fund" and keep some set aside,
but that doesn't always happen.  If a ferret comes in who needs a $400
blockage surgery to save his life and all the shelter has is $400, what
should they do?  Let that ferret die in case one comes in who might need
something later?  Sheltering is a balancing act as well as a job where
heartbreaking choices have to be made.  Until you have walked in a
shelter mom's shoes, I suggest you tone down your accusations.
 
Kris wrote:
>Quite frankly, I would be a little afraid to buy anything from you if
>you don't have the money to ADV test, doesn't shipping cost?
 
Most people who sell stuff charge shipping as part of the cost of the
item and receive the money before they ship things out (this is fairly
standard practice).  How many things do you purchase from a small
business or individual where the shipping is free to the buyer??
 
Kris wrote:
>I am sorry if you or anyone anyone takes offense to this, but I felt
>something needed to be said.
 
I take offense because this was offensive.  Ferret shelter operators
are obligated to walk a tightrope 24/7 trying to stretch available
funds to cover the multitude of ferrets that are thrust into their
arms at all hours of the day or night.  Some drive miles to get them
from animal rescue leagues and aspcas and municipal shelters.  You
would be hard-pressed to find a shelter operator who has not invested
a substantial amount of their own money into the care of their ferrets.
You would also look long and hard before you found a shelter operator who
did not wish to have a decent "nest egg" and had not tried to save one
up, only to have unexpected vet bills eat it up unexpectedly.
 
Until you shelter, or feel like making substantial donations to your
local shelter to help them build the "nest egg" you insist they should
have, you have no call to be so critical or scolding of a shelter
operator who found themselves in the position of getting an unexpected
ferret and also being short of funds.  This is the rule, not the
exception.
 
Kim already had to deal with an ignorant and obnoxious person who should
not have owned that ferret, got no surrender fee for the ferret, and now
has to cover unexpected bills.  Perhaps compassion and support would not
be too much to ask from the ferret community for the work she does to
rescue ferrets and also deal with the uglier, ignorant side of human
nature and the abuse of these animals.  It'd be awfully nice if, in
exchange for her efforts, she didn't have to turn around and defend
herself to the very same community that benefits from her work.
 
-Heather W., Massachusetts
 With extreme gratitude to ALL the shelter moms and dads out there!!
[Posted in FML issue 3986]