Danee wrote: >the estimated cost for UGA to develop a vaccine against ADV. ... >The total cost does sound unreachable - $240,000.00 - until you start >to break it down. Or to put it another way it is almost exactly the same amount that was paid to an informant who presented what is currently strongly felt in many publications and by many experts to be false evidence against a couple in California in a Homeland Securities legal case that was just in the news a few days ago. (Easy to remember because each total was almost a quarter of a million dollars.) Hmmmmmm. Let's see, the California Fish and Game is a problem for ferrets. Homeland Security is paying before checking. Hmmmmmmmm... Anyone at F&G a good target? ;-) (Okay, yes, I am entirely joking about anyone thinking of doing that, but it does give me a wry grin and a chuckle as a joke.) Re: several money conversations: Money is a funny thing. Sometimes what seems like it could be a way to generate money actually costs more than paying the bills instead with that same money would have cost. Sometimes what seems like it should generate money doesn't once the numbers are honestly considered, and what should not be generating money (including by taking taxpayer money as above) does make money. There is nothing quite like actually keeping a budget book and company books to see where money actually goes and how that compares to debt and to net (not gross) profit. Then when behaviors need changing, change them. What is needed and what is desired are so often very different things, but not everyone is good at telling the difference (a few bouts of imposed starvation due to money limitations help see the difference if anyone needs a tip). Pay what is needed first. Then put some for savings against rainy days. Then tackle the rest. Or allow each other a set percentage of independent fun money that the other person can say nothing about. In our house that is 2% of net income for independent fun money. Desires can wait and tend to become sweeter for the wait once they are finally met, or to not have mattered, anyway, after the test of time. Keep account books, keep account books, keep account books. Track the info. Be brutally honest with yourself instead of letting your desires change what you see. See what does not work for you and change it to a working version or dump it. (No, I am not advising people to adopt out their children to save money, no matter the numbers of legs they have. Their smiles and kisses and worth a fortune, little money sinks that they are. LOL! But managing money more strictly, though a true pain in the sit-upon, does make it easier to make sure that the care they need can be afforded.) This is a good way to think about money and a great place to put some (the portion currently projected that might not get desired corporate support): >Then I realized, with about 2,500 members on the FML, that cost for a >vaccine works out to about $25.00 per FML member for 4 years. Still >sound like a lot? Well, think of it as about $2.00 a month for the >next 4 years. ... >Or, to really break it down - less then a ten cents a day. As Danee continued in her posts: >Imagine, for less then ten cents a day, in 4 years there might be a >vaccine developed that could protect ferrets from ADV. Anyone wanting >to donate to this should send checks made out to "The Arch Foundation" >and with either "ADV Research" or "ADV Fund" written on the notations >line to the following address: > > Kate Pennick, Research Tech III > Dept. of Pathology -- Room 148 > UGA College of Vet Med > Athens, GA 30602-7388 How many people spend more than $25 a year for ferret costumes, or other non-essentials? -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5212]