>From: Victor Williams <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: The Nightmare of Ferret Ownership?!?!? hey, again...:) yup...these little things can indeed be quite expensive...i imagine if i had been able to keep my numbers at a reasonable level...it would have been better...but i did not...a hard lesson... but you know...i get so much more from them than you could ever imagine... they fill my heart...my soul...so much love and so much more...it is hard to put into words... but it is good that you are seeing the 'downside' of it beforehand...i did not know about that before i got so many...not that i would ever give up any of mine..or the gift of knowing any one of them... now living in california...that is a problem...personally...i would be scared to death to live there with ferrets...they burrow so deeply into your heart and soul...what if...? what if the authorities found out and confiscated them?...i know many people do it...and deal with it...but it scares me... i do not know how old you are...what your plans for the future are...if there is a chance you could/would move out of Calif...or if you are patient enough to wait till they become legal...yes..it is stupid that they are not...but that does not change the law or the risks to the ferret... as for vets...there are good ferret vets out there...there are even good and inexpensive...there are also many, many vets who do not see ferrets... or say they do, but do not know anything about them really... and some that are outrageously expensive...you just have to ask around... but that may not be a good idea in california... Adrenal disease and insulinoma are the 2 most common things that go wrong in a ferret...in my experience...i have had 2 with cardiomyopathy, too... i have had ferrets since 1996...we have 13 ferrets right now... we have lost [they died] 16 ferrets in the last 4 years... of those 13 that are left...we have 3 in real need of adrenal surgery... 2 of those are repeats...they have has adrenal surgery before...and we have a couple more that are beginning adrenal...one of those is a repeat... and i expect more to go adrenal... of the 16 that have died...most were for medical reasons...[ie: not old age] we have lost them as young as 6 months old...all the way to 8 years old...some obviously for medical reasons...a couple were mysterious deaths...we do not know what caused them to get sick...despite the vet care...some did not make it thru surgery... with ferrets...it is total, complete love...and total, complete devastation when they have to leave you... some say it is not worth it...the pain of loss is too much... for me...that is not true...i would not trade the joy of one single moment with one of my kids...even knowing the pain that is coming... what they give to me far outweighs what it cost in the end... i do not know if this helps at all...but it is what ended up in this e-mail...LOL... i am just a silly old woman who loves her ferrets more than anything in the world... love, kat ===== KITY=^..^=KAT's Fuzzy Frenzy [+13](-16)... Check out http://ferretlover97.terrabox.com/ for my ShelterHelp pages!!!! "The Royal Order Of Pooper Scoopers" http://www.kwflatbed.com/hjg/hjg2.html SOS/FML Shelter and Vet List... http://SOS-ShelterList.supportourshelters.org SOS Raffles... http://raffle.supportourshelters.org/ or http://us.1.p.geocities.com/shelter_ferrets_in_need/SOS-raffle.html When you care about others....when you reach out to others.... ...when you give of yourself to others...YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE! [Posted in FML issue 4530]