This is Susie Lee for The Ferret & Dove Sanctuary, Inc with a more
open-eyed perspective on two points to which motorcityferrets on some
of the expenses incurred by the DMK rescue...

Food & Litter 3,412.28 (you said...

* I can't come to this figure for 586 ferrets for 4 weeks. ???)

to which I reply...At The Ferret & Dove Sanctuary, we already are
(painfully) aware that it takes about $80.00 per week *for us* to feed
60 to 68 ferrets which has been our relatively stable population (two
being turned in for every one adopted out, most of the time) and for
nearly 600 ferrets for 4 weeks that moderate figure (because we do Not
use the most expensive brands; can't!) does, in fact come to over 3
thousand bucks.

With anything more expensive than the 22 bucks per 16 pound bags of
feed we get, that figure would be way, Wayyyy more! (shall we suggest
doubled to twice as much again more? Possibly the only reason THIS
figure is as *conservative* as it is is due to a generous portion
having been donated in the foods that were asked for.)

Now this one....... Trash 1,410.00 (you said.........* What, in trash
bags? Or were fees paid to landfill for the DMK cagesor something
(which I could imagine might be needed)...

to which I say....look here, *how many* ferrets are you changing cages
and cleaning up after?

We change and clean up after 60-plus, and this generates 4 filled
trashbags per day. It is only through the generosity of two of our
neighbors allowing us to put some of our paper trash changed from the
cages in their pickup bins that we do not have to rent a dumpster. We
could NOT make it if we had to rent a dumpster service. I called two of
these services in our area, and got estimates of 600.00 and 800.00 for
having the dumpster on the property and *then* there were extra fees if
it had to be changed-emptied and replaced...which, very naturally, even
a full sized dumpster would be filled to it's capacity for nearly 600
ferrets within a single week of changes-of-paper (plus paper towel
uses, and all the other throw-away items, but our trash is 90 per cent
dirtied cage-newspaper which we change every day).

So we're thinking if the trashbags were filled with cage-changed stuff
as fast as we fill up our own for nearly 600 ferrets, that right there
would be a filled dumpster load about every four to five days.

So Lori's trash cost estimate is actually very conservative.

[Posted in FML 5812]