Sharp nails
 
About a month ago a male ferret, Davit, was brought in, I run some sort of
shelter for unwanted ferrets, with an very bad neck sore, the owner made
some excuse shifting in with some friends keeping dogs and one of them got
hold of the ferret and dit quiet some damage, creating an wound that dit not
heal, covering the total area between the shoulder blades.  In a case like
this I always's start with antibiotics in case of an underlying infection.
The best and all round antibiotic here in New Zealand is "Clavulox" (a
compound of Amoxil and Clavulonic acid) obtainable in syrup or tablet form.
After about a week most of the scabs had disappeared but new ones would
reappear.  Now what.........!!!??, they came up as tiny pinheads, disappear
only to reappear in a other place but always on the neck.  I was about to
take Davit to the vet for a skin test a least to be tested for mites, the
ones that burro under the skin.  One evening I was watching him having a
good scratch, no damage to the skin add least what I thought, but wen I
picket him up and had a good look with a magnifying glass I could see a
number of tiny scratches.  Wen we, humans have a healing sore, in most cases
it start to itch.  So the answer was simply trimming the very sharp nails of
the back feet.
 
I have, in the 12 years of keeping pet ferrets, had some similar experiences
and used special shampoo's, oil or powders and even a skin autopsy , which
was negative for mite, any thing that I thought was right with mixed success
yet, in this case the answer was simple.  At the moment his fur has
completely re established itself and.......NO more scratching.
 
BILL
[Posted in FML issue 1323]