I'm curious, after purchasing out second ferret last night, I initially
thought his nails to be way too long.  While they did need clipped, I
find that the seem to be longer because of the shape of his paws.  Our
first ferret, Rocky, has 'flat' paws.  His toes are essentially a
straight out extension of his legs and paw.  Our new ferret, Chewie,
has very curved paws.  He doesn't seem to naturally straighten out his
toes at all.  They curve upwards from the paw, then back down, so that
his toe tips seem to be below the bottom of his paw.  This causes his
nails (also very sharply curved) to seem even longer than they are.
 
Also, his fur on his paws seems much longer.  With rocky, I can clip
his nails, and see clearly where I'm clipping, without fur being in the
way.  On Chewie, his fur is very long on his feet and toes, and actually
covers the entire nail, sometimes just past the tip of the nail.
 
Is either one of these more 'normal' than the other, or something
extremely out of the ordinary?
 
Also, another difference with our new ferret:
I'm concerned about Chewie.  Again, I'm rather new at this ferret thing,
so it may be nothing to worry about.  However, since we brought him home,
I've found he's relieving himself a lot more often than what our other
ferret does.  Quite literally at least twice as much.  I can't seem to
have him out playing for even an hour between litter box visits without
him leaving me a little present in the corner, or under the couch
cushion, or... you get the idea.
 
Is this something that I should be worried about? (i.e. possible health
issue?)  Or is this yet another normal variation in the two?  They're
roughly the same age, within a week or two of each other, and the pet
store feeds marshall diet, which is the same as what I *had* been using
here.  (I've recently started mixing it with Shepard and greene brand
kibble).
 
Please direct (or at least CC) replies to my private email, as I'm
worried that if this might be a health issue, it's something I'd need
to take action on.
 
Thank you,
Steve
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[Posted in FML issue 4521]