From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-08-21 22:44:07 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] for those who have a serious reason for having difficulty paying vet bills
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, ferret-l@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG
A new article and some resources mentioned in the article:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/pet-care-veterinary-financing-options-1267.php
http://www.animalfriendsrescue.org/financialassistance.html
http://www.help-a-pet.org/
Not mentioned but should be:
1. going to the best vet in your area for the species means a faster
diagnosis and more accurate treatment rather than wasting the pet's
health, and your time and money
2. getting regular vet care and learning danger signs beforehand
(then responding promptly) prevents having the health problem worsen
into something harder to treat
3. learning good husbandry practices and knowing (and taking
seriously) the known downsides for your choices and the possible
downsides for your choices allows you to jump fast and in the right
direction if things go wrong
4. checking things that you give your ferret with your vet beforehand
prevents a range of problems
5. being frank with your vet about everything given and any accidents
which may have happened leads to faster appropriate treatment
6. look into possible routes to preventing, delaying or reducing the
risks of some medical problems while keeping clear in your own mind
which have research behind them
7. avoiding miracle "cures" or miracle "meds" can prevent accidently
creating damage, as can learning what may be poisonous (as some over
the counter and prescription human meds, and some common plants and
cleaning products are).
See also:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/financial_aid.htm
and there are discussions about novel ways (savings accounts,
exchanged labor, selling homemade products, etc.) that some have
managed to better afford vet care for their family pets (without
begging) in the Archives of the FML and FHL:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
and there also are discussions of when pet health insurance fell short.
Vets have very high costs, having to pay for their education, staff,
hospitals, and equipment needed to provide good care. None of those
are cheap and vets are sometimes still repaying school even while they
take on those other costs. People tend to forget those things too
often just because they don't live with those same burdens themselves
or don't live with them at a similar level.
Good medical care, regular medical care, good husbandry, caution,
ferret proofing, prompt care when something is wrong, and the other
good family practices listed above all keep down your veterinary
costs, but ferrets do get ill and the care is expensive, so plan
ahead, don't have more ferrets than you can provide for, check out
your options, and save money before problems happen. The ferrets you
help WILL be your own.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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