To Dan Herold:
 
>The other day, my best buddy, Gypsy, a male chocolate sable, somehow
>managed to cut himself on his right hind leg.
>What is the best way to treat these kind of cuts?  Should I use an alcohol
>solution on them?  Should I wrap up his foot?  Or should I leave it be and
>let it heal itself?
 
    For a small cut such as this one, letting it heal by itself is probably
the best bet.  If it is a more severe gash, r a cut that keeps breaking
open again, a trip to the vet for sutures is most important.  You can wash
the area gently with a little soap and water, but I think an alcohol
dousing would be very painful and may interfere with Gypsy's trust in you.
The benefits given by an alcohol swabbing are far outweighed by the stress
that Gypsy would undergo.  I also would not wrap the food.  First of all,
it is very difficult ot keep any type of bandage on a ferret, and if you do
keep it on, it may get wrapped too tight and you could cuase a lot worse
problems than a cut - possibly even necessitating removal of the leg.
 
     Tincture of time is the doctor's order here.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
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Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
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[Posted in FML issue 1284]