>From: Mia and Patrick Emery <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: breeding animals for profit > > Mia > >Profit? Wheres the profit? Am I missing something? > >I breed ferrets for the joy of raising them, somewhere along the line I >missed out on this profit thing. After feeding, shots, vet visits, >etc...etc... there is no profit, but they occasionally pay for their own >food ! i've never tried the ferret breeding thing, but i bred some extremely high quality purebred cats of a rare breed for quite a while. even with kittens selling for between $250 and $800 (and this was in the eighties!) i never once turned a profit on a litter. after the three maternity visits, 3 or 4 sets of shots per kitten, food and all the incidental vet bills, travel to cat shows to keep my cats well known to the right people, etc etc, i was lucky to break even. and the kittens weren't even neutered when they were sold. that being said i don't honestly believe that anyone who took decent care of their ferrets could make more than a marginal profit through breeding. and honestly i don't mind much. i figure that this way most of the breeders out there are doing it for love, not money, and it's bloody easy to indentify and avoid the others. someday i would love to have a chance to breed ferrets, but i would *never* do it and expect a profit. siani [Posted in FML issue 2721]