Last evening I heard a noise but couldn't quite place where it came from.
Then I heard a whine and checked in the general direction it came from.
I found Peanut (8 yrs old) in a tent with his nail caught in the seam
about 1/3 of the way up on the back.  His paw was quite swollen and he
had pottied in the tent so he'd been there for awhile.  Peanuts nails
aren't long, they are thick and brittle.  Peanut may have scratched
inside the tent to get comfortable and his nail got caught.  I felt
horrible that he got stuck.  I fed him his recipe and took him to bed
with me.  I massaged his foot and apologized and kissed him over and over
again.  Even though he was otherwise fine, the thought that if he hadn't
cried out, he could have been stuck there longer bothered me terribly.  I
check bedding, hammocks, sleep sacks, and hanging dens and cubes but had
not considered the tent to be a possible problem.  This morning when I
checked Peanuts paw the swelling had gone down and he was walking on it
but I'm still very upset by his experience.  This will haunt me for a
very long time.....
 
I'm sharing so others can learn from our experience.  Please check all
bedding items for inside seams and those that have them please check
daily to make sure no one gets a nail caught.  Don't think that keeping
nails trimmed will prevent this from happening, it didn't in Peanuts
case.
 
If you make tents or any type of bedding or cloth enclosures, please sew
the seams so the little ones can't get nails caught.
 
hugs. tle
Troy Lynn Eckart, F.B.S.
Ferret Family Services
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[Posted in FML issue 4497]