This was my response to a 15 year old boy who wanted to get a ferret "as cheap as possible" and had no job! If I remember correctly, he turned out to be a pretty nice responsible kid and his whole family got involved in the care and keeping of his ferret.

..... Let's talk about ferrets :-) Oh boy... how do I do this so I don't sound like another one of those @#%^&** adults lecturing you! ;-)

In reference to the quote in your signature ("In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr. ), think of me as a friend who cannot remain silent! Ferrets are the greatest pets and I love that you're interested enough in one to spend your own money. You might be the greatest ferret owner the world has ever seen. You might be great at feeding and exercising your ferret every day, keeping its litter box, food dishes, and cage clean, and you might show it more love than anyone else has ever shown a ferret. But, ferrets cost A LOT of money.

I'm not just talking about buying a ferret, because it's true, you might find someone who's willing to give you one for very little money or for free! They might even throw in the cage and all the supplies which would save you about $300 or more. But MAINTAINING a ferret costs money. Yes, there's food and litter, but the real cost is Vet Bills.

Ferrets in the United States are unfortunately not terribly healthy. You could do EVERYTHING right, and still have you ferret suddenly turn very ill on you. Ferrets that have always been in perfect health can suddenly get tumors, they get ulcers, they get cancer, low blood sugar..... and unfortunately, this isn't rare in ferrets, it's quite normal here. For me, a trip to the vet -without them doing anything, just a checkup, is around $65 per ferret -even if they both go at the same time! I have two so that's $130 for the vet just to look at them. If they run a couple of blood tests (which is pretty routine) add another $65 each. If your ferret is vomiting one day or seems sick and doesn't want to eat much, add x-rays to that bill for about $100-$200. If your ferret needs surgery (and many times if your ferret is sick, it does) add at least $300-$600 to your bill. This is assuming that you have a good vet who gets it right the first time. If you have a vet who likes ferrets but doesn't specialize in them, then double or triple these bills because you might need to go back and retake those tests several times before they can tell you what's wrong! Oh yeah, then there's medicine.

I'm not talking about "gee WHAT IF your ferret gets sick someday..." I'm saying expect that your ferret will get sick. It's quite common! If you think I'm making this up, read this newsgroup every day for about a month and get on the Ferret Mailing List and read those letters. You'll notice that a large amount of posts are about "My ferret is sick!" "My ferret is losing all it's fur!" "My ferret won't eat!" "My ferret's rear legs won't work.." "My ferret's going blind!"

Even if you are totally blessed and lucky and have a ferret that is never sick a day in its life, you still have yearly vet visits and shots that are needed. The first year of a ferret's life they need 4 separate visits and shots! That costs a lot too. But if you decide to skip the shots because you think your ferret will be safe, think again. Distemper can be carried to your ferret by you on your clothes! You might not even know you picked it up while you were walking around outside. They need their shots!

So... what's my point? (as if you haven't figured it out already! ;-)) You need money! Even if you get your ferret cheap or for free, you need money to keep it healthy. It's so sad to watch your pet in pain or to watch it die. I don't want that to happen to you or your ferret. It's true, ANY animal can get sick -cats, dogs etc. But ferrets in the USA have more medical problems than most pets. As a matter of fact, they have more problems than any other pet that I've personally heard of.

If your parents are considering having this be their pet too and will cover these costs, then great! :-) Maybe they just want you to pitch in a little with your own money here and there? That would also be great. But be sure they've agreed to this before you bring home your pet. I know people whose parents will just give them the "you should have thought about that before..." speech or the "it's not my pet it's yours..." speech and will not help out at all -as a lesson to their son or daughter, but really it's the pet who pays the price and that's so unfair and so sad.

One more thing to consider... What are you doing after High School? If you're going to college or into the army, you probably won't be able to take your ferret with you. You might have the next 3 wonderful years with your new little friend but then what? A hamster lives about 3 years, but a ferret can live about 10 years. It's going to have about 7 more years to live after that. What's going to happen while you're away for 1 to 4 years? Of course, if you're just going to get a job straight out of High School then this isn't as much of a problem. Just some things to think about.

Really, I'm not trying to lecture you because you're younger than me. If it's any consolation, I would have the same answer if your post was the same but said you were 45! It's the money thing. And in your case the possible college thing. Ferrets are the greatest pets. Read about them, dream about them, work at a shelter if you can, and play with them and take care of them there. They might even let you take one home sometimes with your parents' permission. That would be ideal. Shelters LOVE volunteers! But wait to get your own ferret until you or your parents are sure you can afford the probable medical costs and provide the constant care and attention a ferret will need if you go away after graduation and can't take it with you.

Sorry for the length of this, but it's important that you know this information before you make your purchase. Think about it.