January 2001 "Consumer Reports" on pages 8 and 9 has 25 categories about
the average American.  Here are the estimates of pets they had for the
nation in MILLIONS of pets: cats 59, fish 56, dogs 53, birds 13, rabbits
6, ferrets 6, rodents 4.8, reptiles 4.  Total pet cost for nation is $23
billion/year.
 
Oh, and Yahoo's "Internet Life" has a mention of ferrets and stores from
which to buy holiday gifts for those same spoiled and wonderful ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 3259]