Ferret owners need to play an active role in the health care of a pet ferret. Grooming is not only a way to keep your ferret looking its best and feeling its friskiest, it is a significant part of your ferret's preventive home health care program.

Many ferret health problems and unnecessary veterinary bills can be avoided if you recognize the need for routine grooming. learn how to identify early warning signs before a problem gets out of control.

This guide will concentrate on easy techniques that you can apply at home, including easy instructions on how to examine and care for your ferret's skin and fur, eyes, ears, nails and teeth, and external parasite control.

Part One focused on Nail care and appeared in The Pet Tribune, September/October 1997 issue.

PAWS AND PADS
Once the nails have been trimmed, examine the paws and pads. they are vulnerable to injury and signs of illness.

Warning Signs

• Bleeding pads
• Paws swollen and/or inflamed
• Ferret chewing on paws
• Thick paw pads
• Growth on paws
• Red, bluish, purple or pale pads.

Aging ferrets may have dry and thickened pads. Use a tiny bit of petroleum jelly on the pads to help ease the dryness.

NOTE: Unclean cages may lead to nail bed or foot infections. It is important to keep the ferret's cage clean.

Do Not Declaw That Paw
Declawing is a surgical procedure that involves the removal of the claw and the bone it is attached to. If not done properly, the claws grow back but are often deformed. Deformed claws can be more prone to infection. the ferret's claws are a gift nature. Please do not make the animal suffer by taking them away.

Ferrets Need Their Nails For...

• Grasping onto objects and moving them around.
  
• Climbing up on beds and couches and lowering themselves down.
  
• Traction when they walk.
  
• Digging and scratching, which serves to tone muscles.
  
• Removing particles of food that sometimes get caught in the roof of their mouth.

The Physical Effects of declawing A Ferret...

• Grasping ability would be damaged.
  
• Climbing would be out of question.
  
• Balance is impaired.
  
• The joy of digging and scratching would be gone.
  
• The ferret's ability to remove particles of food caught in the roof of the ferret's mouth would be difficult.
  
• Pain from surgery.

Part lll will concentrate on the care of a ferret's skin, fur and odor control.
For further information on ferret care, contact Ferrets, Inc., (305) 856-8566.

-Deborah Jeans, the author of A Practical Guide to Ferret Care, is one of the country's leading experts on ferret health and care. For further information, you may write to the author at P.O. Box 450099, Miami, Florida 33245. A Practical Guide to Ferret Care can be purchased through a bookstore near you such as Borders bookstore or Barnes & Noble.

Grooming Your Ferret Part I by Deborah Jeans