Just wanted to comment on Bob C's e-mail from yesterday.
 
Bob broached this idea to us on his recent visit and I have to admit I was
and still am very intrigued by the concept.
 
We have been through the very thing that Bob mentioned in his post.  A
member (though not one at the time) had a ferret who was very ill.  This
person had already spent hundreds of dollars trying to find out what was
wrong and had run out of money.  It is our policy that we don't lend money
nor cover the veterinary costs for any but shelter ferrets.  We'd go broke
if we did.  Luckily in this case several members donated money to continue
trying to help this ferret.  Sadly the poor sweet thing did not make it.
We still miss you Zorro!
 
But back to the subject...we do have members in our society who are
wonderful ferret parents but don't have a lot of money, and the odds are
that at least one of them will have a ferret who is going to require costly
surgery at some point.  As a member supported society we don't want to be
placed in the position of having to say NO to paying the medical care for a
members ferret.  Nor do we want to have to tell them that the only way we
can help their ferret is if they surrender their much loved and well cared
for fuzzy.  Bob was oh so right when he said..."How can you guarantee that
this ferret will go to a better home than the one he came from?" We can't!
 
We are taking Bob's suggestion very seriously.  We've made a list of
the most common procedures, surgeries etc that ferrets may require in a
lifetime and we've approached 10 vets for quotes on performing each of
these procedures.  We're assuming that at least once in a three year period
a ferret will require surgery or some other equally expensive treatment.
What we want to do is come up with an average veterinary cost per ferret
for their lifetime, which we're estimating as 6 1/2 to 7 years.
 
Next we're going to lie a wee bit (wow I feel guilty just saying that!) and
call up some of the insurance companies that cover animals and ask if we
could see a copy of their contract before we decide to insure our new puppy
or kitten!  This way we can see just what the typical pet insurance policy
covers or doesn't cover.  I know some of them exclude yearly vaccinations,
other won't cover pre-existing conditions.  These are things we'll have to
consider.
 
We're pumped about this idea and our members are excited as well though
they are concerned about how much it will cost.  The biggest obstacle in
this is whether or not we can offer the insurance at a reasonable rate
which our members can afford and how do we deal with multi-ferret
households.  Maybe everyone pays the same monthly rate regardless of the
number of ferrets but are limited to a set number of procedures per year.
I don't know!  There are definitely a number of issues which have to be
decided upon before you could put something like this into place.
 
Only once we're sure that the idea is feasible will we approach the vets
and talk turkey.  We don't want to fall on our faces and we certainly don't
want to go broke in the first year.
 
Personally I'm confident it can be done and I can't think of a better way
to ensure the well being of our ferrets.  I highly urge others to consider
Bob's suggestion, which by the way was only one of several that he shared
with us.  You talked Bob, and we actually listened!
 
Barb Gustafson (aka Boots)
Alberta Ferret Society
President
 
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[Posted in FML issue 2511]