Ferrets

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Facing an internal quandary... I want a ferret. My time managing the pet store left me rather attached to the little animals; there was one female who would come climb up my arm and sit on my shoulder while I cleaned their cage, provided food and/or water, or was simply showing them to customers. But realistically, I can't. Between the two households, I have 5 animals that are in their advanced senior years, three with other health issues (two dental, one seizure), and then two younger, larger dogs. Costs are going to be prohibitive to provide care to them over time, and food costs continue to go up. Keeping up with elderly animals, plus ferrets (messy little ones), would be hellacious. I know this logically. But then I find two ferrets online to adopt with a great custom cage and all the supplies for about the price of a single ferret (no equipment!) from a pet shop. I'm trying to suppress the impulse, but am struggling. Input, anyone?


M.

That's a very difficult decision. Especially if you have a great attachment to animals. I was originally supposed to have one ferret. Well that ferret blossomed into FOUR.....and a cat.

The only thing I can say is that you are lucky to not have the initial cost of getting set up with the cage and accessories. That's rather expensive. Then you have the vet exam and distemper vac. Depending on the age you may only have to do that once and not have to do that for another year. The food I feed them is around $19 a bag for 6lbs. I can only guess, but you might only need that much for a month.

The major issue is setting back funds for the unfortunate possibility of illness. Early on, one of my ferrets became very ill and the preformed exploratory surgery. They took out a suspicious lymph node and gave him supportive care. The total bill came to $800. The vet let us make payments though.

I sense from your post that you know that you are at your limit? I'm sorry if this is the wrong assumption.

Regardless of what you choose to do, if there is any information that you need, or message boards you might like to lurk, let me know.

PS. I hope I didn't give you info you already had, considering you managed a pet store and probably knew much of this already.

Take care.

My current menagerie:

Household #1:

Himalayan, 14/M
Long-haired Calico/Ragdoll, 16/F
Tabby/Manx, 16/M
Short-haired Calico, 7/F

Beagle, 12/F
Golden/Hound, 8/F
Border Collie/Spaniel, 5/M
Border Collie/Spaniel, 5/F


Household #2:

Domestic Longhair, 8/M

Pomeranian, 14/M

-----

Yes, I am at my limit. Food costs alone, as they keep increasing almost monthly, are already taxing all available resources. Animals are a weakness for me, and I know part of it is coping mechanism associated with loss. Just lost one cat, a black short-hair from household #2, at age 14 in the past two weeks, and must realistically expect that I will lose at least two more in the coming year with the possibility of up to 4 or 5. That absence is going to tear me apart for some time, I know this already.


M.

I say, Go for it, M!
They are going to enrich your life,
so much more so than the financial burden will care to you.
I can't imagine a more fascinating and exotic pet to have than a ferret!
The food costs, compared to a dog, must be negligible.
If you are facing future potential losses( )
they will be exactly the diversion and cameraderie you will need to comfort you through the grieving period.

I would love to own a ferret!
But I don't think we're allowed to, here in Australia.

Also, do they breed easily?
Raising the babies would be teh Awesomeness!
And you could sell them and get some extra capital.

Oh I feel you on this one. I have a hard time saying no when it comes to pets. Snakes are my weakness... We have six of them now. We had seven, but our blood python passed this month. He was not healthy as a hatchling... we thought he was going to pull through and live a long life. I am still quite shaken by this. Anyway... The person that I am, I look through rescue lists often and think to myself, 'I could bring this one home, I could bring that one home... Oh look! That one comes with a tank and everything... that saves me a few hundred dollars right there if they throw in the lamps and whatnot." Sigh. But my reality dictates that I barely have enough money to keep up with the ones I have and my Burmese is not getting any smaller or less expensive to feed. I tell myself, "No! Bad Dossa! No snake for you!" It kills me because I want another one. My husband has been wanting a green tree python or a boa... so he is no help. But I do know that due to my love of rescue animals, sometimes we have medical issues that need to be addressed with our snakes and that is not cheap. I need to have funding available to care for my babies the way they deserve to be cared for. That is the only thing keeping me from running out this weekend and bringing a boa home, as we are getting our taxes back this weekend and I have poor impulse control when it comes to animals.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your loved one. Losing a pet is devastating. To face the reality that more will follow has to be difficult for you. My heart goes out to you in this.

They are a handful, I have 2 ferrets and they require lots of attention not to mention the vet bills and the best food.
It might be to much to handle if you have other pets in the house or are traveling alot, I would never recommend
getting a ferret on impulse till you have the time to devote to them. My vet bills in the past year and a half came
to over $2200, $1400 was for a tummy blockage and adrenal removal, ferrets are very prone to adrenal tumors or
lymphoma. My boy ferret is dying of lymphoma, like his mate so its very hard to go though twice

It's not something I want to enter into lightly, and I know they have several potential health issues. To S: generally speaking, in the States many ferrets are spayed/neutered as well as descented (partially) when they are young. Breeding isn't something I want to get into, to be honest, though I see the validity of your idea. I have a harder time with the loss of animals (animeaux?) than I am with most people... the idea of being without any of them, much less several, is very upsetting. When it happens, I know that I will be a wreck for some time. I know about care costs; I've cared for a rabbit with congestive heart failure with twice-daily shots, my beagle has had cancer surgery twice, and two cats have had to have more than half their teeth removed due to dental lesions. There are times they have eaten better than we have, and it makes me mad that I can't care for them better or give more a home.


M.

I've got three ferrets at the moment, they're great animals to have. I have two castrated boys that live in my bedroom, in their cage, and one alibo female called bee, who ever since my other female died won't stop escaping her cage. I've given up trying to put her back in there and locking her in incase she hurst herself getting out so she just lives downstairs, sleeps in my box of dog coats. I have 2 cats (technically three but Spots my mums) and 3 dogs which ignore her most of the time. She sometimes get my kitten and puppy to play with her, its great fun to watch.
I find with food bills to buy in bulk is cheaper and lasts longer, so i buy a big sack of ferret food, dog food and cat crunchies (they're all on dried food except the kitten who has pouches ontop of his crunchies because he needs to put some weight on).
Ferrets get their litter trays cleaned out twice a day and a cage disinfection weekly i dont think thats too bad it's £10 a month for the litter I use for them (except bee who has newspaper in a litter tray placed behind the living room door cause thats where shes chosen to do her business lol). But then saying that about bee, you can just use newspaper for litter as long as you;'re willing to clean it out daily, it makes it cheaper but more work :3
Other than the neutering of the three ferrets i've found them very cheap to look after.

Hello M.

I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. I usually logout when my boyfriend comes home.

((hugs))
I'm very sorry about your kitty. I am crushed when my pets pass and like yourself, I have a harder time with the loss of a pet than with people.


This is currently the situation. My pets always come before myself. I would rather starve than have them go without the best.

It's very hard for me to give advice. I could easily see myself get the ferrets in your situation (I've done this). But considering the number and needs your current pets require, I would probably be inclined not to adopt.

Perhaps if you feel that you can provide for the ferrets and your current pets and not (further) neglect yourself, I would say go for it.

I hope I don't sound cold. I'm only trying to be objective. If I did seem too cold, my utmost apologies.

On a side note, I must say that I always enjoy reading your posts. They are very sensitive and insightful.

If you ever need to talk about your pets or anything else don't hesitate to PM me, if you'd like.

((more hugs))

Thank you...

I think that it would be best if I waited on adopting the ferrets; with the potential of more age-related health costs impending on the horizon and the sheer amount of care needed at the moment, it would probably be too much. In time, they may prove to be a solution to help 'downsize' the scale of my animals instead of needing a small farm to house them all. Also have to work with wife to find space to keep ferrets as she is more sensitive to their smell. (I have problems with synthetic scents, she has more issues with natural smells) Is tearing me apart... don't want them to go to a bad home. Don't want to think about losing one of those closest to me, yet everyday face prospect of coming home to find one no longer here. Ok have to move on to another conversation for now.


M.

I'm getting one in a few months, they're soooooooo cute!! !! !! !