Posted: August 1, 2009, 10:15 p.m. EDT
Q: We currently have three ferrets. Our oldest ferret, Foxy, will be 7 in October, and she recently got her nail caught in a shirt button. She tugged at it and ripped off half of her nail. At first she was bleeding uncontrollably, but we ran it under cold water and put some Neosporin on it to make sure it did not get infected. The day after this happened, she walked around just fine, but we secluded her from our younger ferrets because they tend to play around, and we didn’t want them to hurt her by accident because she is very fragile.
Should we still take her in to the vet, or should we wait and just keep a close eye on her for the next couple of days and see how she does? I currently brought her to work with me in a medium carrier, just to keep an eye on her. She’s been eating, drinking and walking around just fine.
A: Usually, this type of incident should be handled exactly as you are doing. As long as bleeding is controlled and there is no evidence of infection, your ferret should be fine.
If bleeding continues and/or your ferret is reluctant to walk, then a visit to the veterinarian is needed. It sounds like you have handled this perfectly.
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