There is a ferret at one of our shelters who has very strange-looking toes.
He's about 4 years old, probably Marshall Farms.
 
He's missing one toe.  The rest on all four paws look deformed.  The nails
seem to be growing straight up.  The toe pads seem bulbous and swollen, but
that appearance could just be because of the way the nails are growing.  The
ends of each toe are blue on top, and darkest blue right around the nail
beds and that last knuckle.
 
The injuries are old.  There is no infection.  The ferret walks and plays
normally and doesn't seem to be in pain.
 
The shelter's vet, who is experienced with ferrets, has never seen anything
like this and has no idea what could have caused this.  I'm wondering if
this little guy was a victim of a do-it-yourself declawing--if someone tried
to cut his nails off at the root when he was young and they just never grew
back right.  Except for the missing toe, the toes themselves seem to be
intact, so it wasn't a professional job (which would have taken off the last
segment of the toes).
 
Has anyone ever seen this? Do you know what it could be?
 
-- Lee, one of the Massachusetts Ferret Friends
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[Posted in FML issue 2076]