From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-05-20 16:19:00 UTC
Subject: Re: My ferrret is missing a toemail!!!!!
Rae wrote:
>Okey I probably sound like just the awfullest ferret mommy, but Ive
>had Fiona for a bout a month and a week and I just now clipped her
>back toenails today ( I clipped her front ones a few weeks ago) and
>When I was clipping them I saw she's missing her "middle finger"
>toenail altogether. The area isnt swollen or red or in anyway
>damaged as far as I can tell but she just doesnt have a toenail!
It is entirely possible that her mother accidentally groomed off the
end of that digit right after she was born. That isn't too unusual
with novice mothers. Watch it to make sure that the tissue does not
retract and expose bone, that is not common but can happen and needs
correction if it does. We have one who is like your little one who
has had no problems in her four and half years, and another who
arrived here as a "defective" freebie with only two fingers on one
hand. The second one has had to have two corrective surgeries, but
it's been stable for about one and a half to maybe two years, now.
In his case he might have had a grooming accident but it is also
possible that he has some deformities, a possibility which looks more
likely with his glitchy health. We also have a tail-amputee boy, so
missing pieces aren't unusual here right now.