They are quite small compared to the average person and can be sneaky most of the time. Now as a slight bit of background information I let my ferrets roam around my room freely. I just barricaded off the door with a wire cage from Petco. This let them run around and play freely...mostly hiding my socks in places they aren't supposed to go. I ended up stepping on one when I jumped out of bed and it squeaked and darted off. A ferret will hide it's pain very well and I didn't realize until later that she was hurt. A trip to the vet showed the swelling to be a broken arm. It turned out to be worse than I thought. One side of the bone was broken and the joint was dislodged from the other side, leaving the bone to float.
[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Zzzzzzzzz... Painkillers"]
[/caption]The biggest cost was keeping the cast/splint on her. It was hard to find a vet to even treat a ferret, let alone have supplies that small. They eventually came up with something and the first splint was done. She was mildly calm throughout the first week due to painkillers they prescribed for her.
Ok, painkillers are gone, but a very pissed off ferret can't move her arm. I had to go back to the vet several times for a new splint. At about $120 a splint, it ended up costing if I remember correctly $600+ between the meds, vet costs, and additional splints. Would the premiums have saved me the trouble? Perhaps. I would like to get new ferrets eventually, although I wish I could have kept my current ones. With a high maintenance pet I think $10-20 a month wouldn't be that bad. A ferret in their later years WILL develop health concerns. Some of them can shorten the time you have with your fuzzballs. This little post was inspired as I was reading and came across an article about pet insurance. If you have pets, you should do everything possible to take the best care of them, and it's not going to kill you to pay out an extra $10-20 for them a month. How many times have your parents said "We would love to get the doggy surgery, but that's a lot of money and it's just a dog". At first I didn't really feel the cost was required. If I get any high risk animals again it is something I am definitely looking into.
