I have reading the postings on broken teeth and declawing, but haven't had
time to respond until now.  Broken canines are not uncommon in wild
carnivores; I have seen scores of broken canines in all sorts of carnivores.
Except for the instances where the break was a fresh one, the central hole
in the tooth (pulp cavity) was filled in with a hard material (cement)
naturally produced by the tooth.
 
Truthfully, domestic animals can live just fine without ANY canines; they
are often removed from primates and carnivores that are used in research.
Mink ranchers routinely snap off both the lower and upper canines of their
animals.  The only time a domestic ferret might have a need for the nippers
is for protection from a larger animal, like a big tomcat or rabbit-huntin'
dog.
 
This isn't fantasy; several months ago a friend called, in tears and almost
unintelligible, wondering if I would look at her ferret, Socko.  When I
arrived, Socko was a bloody mess, with bits of fur missing, one front paw
twisted, and an ear torn in half.  Socko had been playing on a ferret-proof
porch that wasn't very cat proof, and the neighbor's tom decided to go
squirrel/bird/gopher hunting.  The neighbor was also there, with her cat in
a carrier, also going to the vet.  "Tom" was severly scratched on the face,
involving an eye, and was literally missing the tip of his nose, but was
otherwise unharmed.
 
After an hour's drive, Socko was sewn up (23 stitches in four places), had a
broken radius surgically set, and got to spend the next couple of days in
the hospital.  I have no doubt that if Socko had been missing tooth or claw,
she would be dead and probably consumed.
 
Some might disagree, but if your fuzzy is protected from predation, then
fixing a broken canine is of a cosmetic nature.  However, if your little
guy/gal tends to sneak away, or is sometimes in a position where they have
to protect themselves, it is no longer cosmetic enhancement, but a
neccesity.
 
As for the removal of claws, I have to admit I own a declawed cat.  Bast
(Japanese Bobtail) scratched a child on the face (the sweet thing was
whacking Bast with a wooden spoon).  I was living in California at the time,
home of smoggy skies and greed-based lawsuits, and was I was forced to
declaw or go to court.  (The wrong animal was punished; no, I do not mean
the little girl, but her mother....).
 
If you carefully watch your ferret, you will notice them using their claws
for many things besides digging.  Cutting off their fingertips because they
have an instinct for digging is similar to removal of vocal cords to make
someone quiet.  Except for those rare instances that save the life of your
pet, (or required by sharks of the legal variety), it is mutilation.
Digging is both natural and expected for a ferret.
 
I suggest five things which has saved the life of my carpet (and marriage).
First, trim the ferret's nails regularly.  The ferret may be stimulated to
dig in an effort to wear down longish nails.  Second, either have spaces
large enough for the ferret to crawl under, or no space at all.  If they can
see under it, they will dig in an attempt to find a way in.  Raising our
couch on 1/4 inch blocks and removing the castors from the chair, lowering
it to the floor, completely stopping digging at those locations.  Third,
tape some sandpaper on the floor of their cage.  For some reason they like
to dig at it more than the carpet.  Last, fill a box with dirt and let them
play in it!  My beasties love it!  They will dig and roll and snort and
sniff and generally behave like the burrowers they are.  This doesn't stop
all digging; ferrets are ferrets, but it helped with mine.
 
My other pets have done far more damage to property than the fuzzies.
Before Bast was tactually castrated, she managed to destroy the ends of a
couch while the family was away on vacation.  Satan, our black lop, has
chewed the molding of most of our doors and baseboards.  Bosco the
Magnificent, our german shepard, once ATE MY MOTHER'S RECLINER!
 
By the way, I really dislike wire cages.  I have seen too many animals
living in such cages break their teeth or injure their limbs on the wire.
(When Bear was being made Bear-less, one of his legs got stuck in the wire
floor of the cage used by the vet, dislocating it.  Carnivores have a bone,
called an Os penis or baculla, embedded in the penis.  I have seen the penis
become trapped in the wire, breaking the baculla.  I use plastic pet porters
as cages; they come in various sizes (I use the largest) and are made by
different manufacturers.  They are also cheap; I bought several of the
larger porters at Sams Home Club for less than $40 each.  With a masonite
divider, they become bilevel, and can still be adapted for hammocks. etc.
They have other advantages; they allow the ferret some sense of privacy, and
the lighting within the cage is subdued.  (The ferret's eye lacks cones;
they cannot distinquish color at all; everything is in shades of grey.  This
adaptation is to see in the dark; they are very sensitive to bright light).
 
Bob  ([log in to unmask])
Moose, Stella, Daye, Tori, and Bear.
 
Daye says, "I never dig.  But if I do, I never get caught.  But if I do,
I never admit it.  But if I do, I look real cute and get a hug and kiss
and sometimes a romp in the DIRT BOX!"
[Posted in FML issue 1356]