Henry, A few months back one of our ferrets managed to pull the entire nail off a rear paw. As you mentioned, these things bleed like crazy and put the critter (and humans) into a panic. It's very difficult to sooth the frazzled nerves of a squirming, bleeding ferret. From our experience, the nail will grow back. Holly lost hers by trying to jump into an antique magazine rack. The rack had small chains between spindles and she somehow caught her nail in a chain link and was dangling by her rear leg. By the time my wife heard the screams and ran in, Holly pulled herself free and was in sheer panic. We cleaned the site and applied antibiotic ointment, followed by wrapping with tape and gauze. This is no easy trick! End result...it healed fine. Good luck, Scott [Posted in FML issue 1043]