ferret costs

[Deleted]

I'm wondering what the long time ferret owners think is the average cost of ferret care. How much should a ferrent be prepared to spend?

[miamiferret2]

when they are young (under age 5) expect about $500 to $600 a year for routine check ups and the usual mishaps and "freak out" vet visits.

when they are older than 5 they tend to develop alot of other issues (insulinoma, adrenal disease) so expect that to triple or quadruple depending on where you live and how expensive your vets are.

i live in miami florida. vets tend to be on the expensive side here.
my last train wreck ferret (adrenal/ibd advanced to intestinal lymphoma/insulinoma) lived to be over 8 years old but he required vet visits every month and expensive medications. my monthly vet/medication bills were often over $300 a month. this was the extreme bc he was at the end of his illnesses and he required pediapred, diazoxide (proglycem) flutamide, finasteride, chloramphenicol and various other medications just to feel "okay."

the bad thing is that with marshall farms and PVF ferrets people are seeing adrenal disease as young as age 2 and 3. my last adrenal ferret had adrenal signs by age 3.

[Heather]

Good question....I would suggest you put aside the amount needed for one emergency surgery per year, hopefully you'd never need it but it's there if you do. This year, I've done 3 surgeries (Yuri didn't even make it), Yuri's surgery also involved a complete barium and xrays, have done DES implants on 3 ferrets, treated 2 ferrets for cardiac issues and one insulinoma and paid for one euthenasia...it's not been a good year financially I would think if you keep the cost of one emergency surgery in a savings account you should be able to cover most of what comes at you. Either that put 20, 30$ aside every month into an account so that you can cover whatever is needed. Ferrets are not a cheap pet.
ciao

[miamiferret2]

Mar 13, 2012 12:33:17 GMT -5 Heather said:

Ferrets are not a cheap pet.
ciao

no they are not. but IMO they are worth EVERY PENNY!

[Heather]

Oh, I totally agree.... ;D but I think a lot of people are blindsided by the costs.
ciao

[Deleted]

Prices must be better here. Noodles is going to have two teeth extracted and the full quoted price for that and after care is $150. Now that he is fattened up and feeling better, I'll probably have it done soon. I hope it goes well.

[Heather]

That's about what it cost me to have Napoleons teeth done. That included the anti-biotics before and after, the surgery and the dental cleaning. There was also an xray done but that was extra. I think the whole bill cost me about $225
ciao

[Deleted]

a LOT depends on where you live, the health of your individual ferret, and how much health monitoring you do.

My first two ferrets were VERY sickly all their lives. And we were away on quite a few weekends over the years, so I paid vet techs to care for them when we were gone. My first two ferrets, both of whom had EVERYTHING wrong with them ended up costing over $10,000 per ferret for medical cost and baby sitting bills alone.

It was very bad because both ferrets needed constant medical attention from the very beginning.

-jennifer

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[Deleted]

Most vets consider ferrets to be geriatric at at 4-5

[Sherry]

To give you an idea, a blockage surgery will run me anywhere between $1000 to $1400, depending on whether the blockage is in the stomach still, or in the intestine itself.

[goingpostal]

It's hard to say, really depends on the ferret, what goes wrong, l've had 8 ferrets in 7 years, just added up vet records and I've spent $5248. Exams, tests, 2 adrenalectomies, 2 des. implants, over a year of lupron, skin tumor removal, ear mites, etc etc. That's almost $700 each in vet costs and two are still with me, both with health issues. Most of these ferrets did not come to me as babies so I saved on several years of care as well. My vet is 2.5 hours each way from me so factor in a lot of gas costs too

That's not counting
$125 x 3 for the pet store babies=375
$40 for Tweek
$250 bedding
$400 on various cages
$20 per month litter =1680
$40-$50 per month food=3360-4200 (depends on how many ferrets, I've had to ship in both kibble and raw, neither is cheap)
So another $5-6,000 there

Plus toys, harnesses, clothes, treats/supplements so I guess $1,500-$2,000 per ferret is a fair guess for me.

[Deleted]

Good break down of info. Thanks.

[Deleted]

I've never tried to add up the cost but I'm almost scared to now. I guess when i but stuff separate it dosnt seem to be that much. Thankfully I haunt had any major health issues yet. I know the adrenal is coming though. [img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/0_0.gif"].gif[/IMG]

[Sherry]

I know I spend $1500 a year just on lupron. Add to that all Boris' costs for the IBD. Vet visits, pred, now imuran, etc. That doesn't include wellness checks.

[goingpostal]

You have a few on it don't you Sherry? What do you pay per dose? I know that was a huge fear of mine before my vet got des. I had two at most on lupron at a time but it didn't help Craven so that was short term. It cost me $30-$40 per shot, plus overnight shipping of $15 or so and I gave them myself, so at least $100 every 3 months, if I was doing multiples for long periods that would add up really fast, that is base dosage as well. That is a good point, I did not include that because it's not in my vet records, I paid the pharmacy over the phone. Add another $500. [img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/0_0.gif"].gif[/IMG] The des implants @125 each for a year is so much better.

Also I have never had an obstruction surgery or long time illness other than the adrenal. No IBD, no crazy meds other than pred and antibiotics. And location matters, I've paid $400-$900 for adrenal surgery, some people pay $2000. My vet doesn't insist on vaccs or unneeded testing (adrenal)