Here's how nails are trimmed in our house.  We do nail trimming in the
kitchen, working from the eating bar.  Gather clippers (either pet type or
regular people nail clippers) Ferretone, Petromalt or other lax in a tube,
and baby wipes.  Open cap on Ferretone.  Squeeze several inches of cat lax
onto your table top.  [Well, we have a formica eating bar - you might want
to add a saucer to hold the cat lax instead of putting it on your oak
table.] Sit in a chair with a dishtowl over your lap.  Flop a ferret into
your lap, feet side up, tail dangling over your knees.  Take a fingerfull
of lax and smear it onto ferrets tummy.  Start clipping as ferret cleans
tummy.  If he finishes first, squirt a few drops of Ferre tone onto tummy
as a chaser.  I begin with the right front foot, going next to the right
rear foot, left rear foot, etc.  If the ferret is antsy, do the front feet
first, as the rear ones grow more slowly.  You can do front feet one day,
rear ones the next.  The baby wipes are to keep your hands clean and to
spiff up the ferret when you are though.  If I'm doing all the ferrets at
once, if someone is still cleaning their tummy when I finish the nails, I
just park him in a corner, propped up against the wall.
 
If you would rather work standing up, place the top from an egg carton on
your kitchen counter and spread a dishtowel or two over it.  Put the ferret
into the carton top like you would on your lap, and clip away.
 
When nail clipping is over my ferrets get a Fruit Loop.  We also do ear
cleaning this way as several ferrets weigh over 4 pounds - too heavy to be
scruffed.
 
Georgia
[Posted in FML issue 2860]