sorry this is gonna be a long one lol!! I do understand how frustrating it can get having to spend that kind of money on a ferret...when I was 18, Noodles had adrenal (got her from Tracey)...she had her surgery in the summer/fall she grew back hair then began losing it...that next summer, I had to take her back to the vet...bald, sick, itching...She hung on for a month, but she had to be put down...Of course I was left with a vet bill out of the wazoo... Not even a month and a half later, Mikey, my newly adopted male ferred (From Sandi) developed a lump underneath his chin that actually popped like a oversized pimple...took him to the vets...he had an abcess...His abcess kept re-occuring over the next few months on the side of his face, and so was the vet bill. The time I had him, he had 2 or 3 surgeries to clean out the abcess, plus many other visits and checkups, and was being given Clindamycin (SP?) but not very good tasting stuff. During that time I was basically working full time at Subway and me being 19 I only had a new car payment, phone, and a heavy vet bill to worry about, thankfully the vets understood this...I FINALLY joined the military late october (even longer story) and I knew Mikey still needed a LOT of tlc that I could not provide since his abcess was still reoccuring... I did what was best for him, and a WONDERFUL person, a vet tech at the vet hospital named Tracey Greene offered to take him under her wing...she understood my situation. I knew I could not afford to keep taking him back to the vets every week or two to have the abcess cleaned out, as it was a VERY aggressive one...I tried, but just couldn't do it...As of today, with Tracey's help and strength Mikey is a VERY fat and healthy boy and he's been abcess free for over 3 months and he's just barely over a year old. I never thought twice about passing up the opportunity for him to have a better chance with Tracey...he's only over a year and he's had about 5 surgeries, most of them with drains sticking out of his neck...poor little guy...I knew she would take care of him. Not just for s*its and giggles, Rosie (my sweet little shadow)(Tracey also blessed me with this angel) got some *cold* symptoms not even a month after Mikey went with Tracey...diarreah. Took her to the vets and while she was there, she developed hind end weakness...had some tests done and we couldnt find out what was wrong with her...did a full blood test to check for ADV...nope...nore tests done...she eventually came home the next weekend and could barely hold her head up for her last weekend home... It tore my heart out seeing I couldn't do anything for her since I didnt know what was wrong with her because she got so sick so fast I was giving her IV injections, changing and washing her every two hours, hand feeding her every 4....her last day, she would cry in pain if I picked her up... her spleen felt so large that it was probably putting a LOT of pressure on her insides. Two days before thanksgiving Rosie was put to sleep... Vet opened her up and She had juvenile lymphoma all over her tiny little body...nothing I could have done could have helped her, except end her suffering. This was in November...In the last 6 months...on 3 ferrets, I spend WELL over $1600...but I also had a LOT of help from some great friends that I owe a LOT of thanks to, and that I knew over the internet... CLUBMEDFERRETS.. they sent $175 to the vets in December...Denise Laxson sent $50 ...Tracey Greene did some paintings and sold them on EBAY...Even Sandi Robinson donated $20...Renee Downs gave me $110...Even my DAD paid for Noodles first adrenal surgery and let me pay him back. The vets helped me out so much too...paid for some of Mikey's medications out of the Angel Fund...cut a few charges here and there...They understood that I was/am on a limited income and there was nothing I could do to prevent the high vet bills, and they WORKED WITH ME... That was the best part of all...They knew I would pay them...might not be in a week..but I did finally pay them totally late January/Feb when I got my tax returns back..I think they were getting used to seeing me in there every monday morning right after I got my paycheck...lol.. Those are just a few people off the top of my mind...There were a few others that helped me too... MY MAIN POINT OF THIS STORY, IS THAT THERE IS HELP AVAILABLE WHEN YOU NEED IT...YOU JUST HAVE TO ASK. Please don't just give up on your baby because of a little $$ issues...where there's a will, there's a way... and trust me...I learned the hard way...I Loved all of my ferrets I've had the last 4-5 years...and out of all the vet visits...I wouldn't have changed a thing if I had to do it over again and knew what I know now... I would have done the exact same thing in a heart beat.. -Valerie & Buckie ===== ~*~*~ VALERIE ~*~*~ ,',', __ \ `'`,/ \ ()o=; `'`','`/ . \/ / ( / \" / \(_ \(_ ~*`~*`FERRETS RULE~`*~`* Missing Noodles + Rosie at the Rainbow Bridge [Posted in FML issue 4451]