To Sean Robinson:
 
> Dr. Williams, is there any medical reason at ALL to file down a
>ferret's fangs?
 
    Of course not.  However, I'm not sure what you can do about it, as I'm
not familiar with Canadian law.  Acutally, they are probably not violating
a law, as long as the animals are anesthetized.  We crop dogs ears and
tails on a regular basis - why not file fangs to make the animals more
presentable and profitable?  Stupid - incessantly.  But I think it's only a
matter of time until someone came up with this idea.
 
    As I just mentioned - we see a lot of broken teeth but few problems.
I'll have to check to see if the tooth pulp is just located very deeply in
ferret teeth.
 
    Cedar chips, filed teeth - strange goings on north of the border.
 
Bruce H. Williams, DVM         Dept. of Veterinary Pathology
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath    Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
                               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1240]