First off, let me say that i am not defending anyone. I just wanted to let everyone know that I agree with what Jen B said 95%. The other 5%: We need to realize everyone has limitations. When i got my first ferret I made sure I had $500 dollars in emergency money. At that time, I was a 17 year old college student. I realize nowthat 500 it isn't enough, but it just wasn't feasible for me to put more away. A few months ago, I adopted two more and before I did that I made sure I had $800 in emergency money per ferret. Still not a lot, but a good cushion. Fortunatly I have never had to use it all, but I am glad it is there. Each month I try to put $5 or $10 more dollars in the emergency account, but sometimes, I just can't swing it. (I am still a college student, just bought a home, and work at a humane society so i don't have much extra) Enough of my story, my point is that everyone has limits. The limit for my ferrets is around $5,000 (my credit limit). I hate to put a price on it, but I have to be realistic. Working at a humane society I see propblems with money all the time. One of the questions on the adoption application is how much are you willing to spend on a unexpected illness. Most people answer $500. Please consider that number is for dogs and cats. It isn't a high number, but we still adopt out to those families. We explain that even though you have a limit, you have to do something, you either have to spend the extra dough to fix them or you have to end their pain. You can't just say I can't afford it so I am going to do nothing. When adopting out pure bred dogs that are prone to certain medical problems we let the families know what they might have to deal with and we also let them know the amount of money it will likely take to correct the illness or whatever. If shelters were only going to adopt out to families that could afford to spend all their money on vet bills, the shelters would be even more overcrowded. Personally, I think to have a multiple ferrets and say that $800 is too much is scary. Every ferret owner should expect each of their ferrets to need adrenal surgery and/or treatment some time in their live. Most ferrets will encounter this illness, so ferret owners should find out the average cost of the surgery in their area and plan on spending it. I would also hope that before shelters are adopting out ferrets that they are telling the adopters what to expect in terms of vet costs in their area. The reality of it is every person has their limit. I hope something in this ramble made sense to someone. Please. No flames. Polite rebuttles welcome. On another note, is there anyone out there that can give me a web page address that has some ferret tatoos on it. Even a page that has some good black and white clip art to browse will do. Dayna, Gonzo, Kodo, & Daisy ===== I LOVE FERRETS! [Posted in FML issue 4450]