A few weeks back I posted a message about my Pichu's nails.  They had a
brown crusty growth on them.  My other two ferrets started to get the
same thing.  I received some e-mails with suggestions ranging from foot
rot to mange to cutaneous lymphoma.
 
I brought them to a vet who said she'd never seen anything like it before.
She put them on antibiotics for a week.  I told her I tried a new pine
litter a month or two ago, and she said that might be it, and to change
back to their old litter of recycled newspaper pellets.  I didn't get such
a good feeling while I was there, however, so I brought them to my old vet
a week later for a second opinion.  He was absolutely wonderful.  Very
kind and patient.  He'd never seen this before in ferrets either, and he
took the time to go in the back and look at some ferret books and a
vetrinary database.  He couldn't really find anything.  I mentioned I had
used pine litter, and he thought that was probably the cause.  It had to
be somthing all three were exposed to, since they all had it.  He said if
only one ferret had it, he would be more worried.  He said he's seen other
animals have reactions to pine litter, and that my ferrets would shed
their affected nails and healthy ones would grow in within a month or two.
 
Their nails aren't getting worse, which is good.  I can see some new
nails starting to grow in too.  They are very happy and healthy otherwise.
I just wanted everyone to think twice before using pine litter for your
ferrets.  I'm sure it's a great product, but it wasn't worth having my
ferrets' nails suffer because of it.  I'm going to stick to my recycled
newspaper pellets.
 
Also, I would like to recommend Dr. Smith at the St. Georges Veterinary
Hospital in Avenel, NJ.  The number there is 732-634-5242.  He took care
of my dogs in the past and was very good with them.  One of the girls at
his office said he performed a successful adrenal surgery on her ferret
and won't bring them to anyone else.  He is the 3rd vet I've brought my
ferrets to, and in my opinion, the best.  You just get the feeling he
really cares, which is so important when it comes to animals!
 
Gladys, Sam, Pichu & Toby
[Posted in FML issue 3721]