Things You'll Need:
- Nail Clippers - Preferably clippers designed for small animals
- FerreTone vitamin supplement
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Step 1
Have trimmers and Ferretone in easy reach from a well-lit seated position.
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Step 2
Put a little FerreTone on your finger and put in front of your ferret. They should lick it immediately and want more. If not, try rubbing some on their teeth and try again.
95% of ferrets love FerreTone. For the 5% that do not, you can try FerretLax (a laxative so don't use too much) or Nutri-Cal. If they like none of these - which does happen from time-to-time - you'll need to scruff the pet and have a friend help you.
Skip this step if your ferret already knows and loves FerreTone. -
Step 3
Once the ferret is interested in the FerreTone, lay it on its back on your lap and squirt the FerreTone directly onto its belly.
Be sure to do this slowly or your ferret will jump from surprise and you'll have FerreTone all over you. If that does happen, just flip your ferret back and add a little more. -
Step 4
Your pet will promptly go to licking its belly and nail trimming will be easy until the FerreTone runs out. So act fast! Most ferrets will only lick their belly for so long.
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Step 5
To trim a ferrets nails, lightly hold the paw and clip each nail separately. *** Ferret's nails have blood vessels and if you trim too close to these vessels, you will hurt your pet and cause them to bleed. So be sure to trim up to but not at the blood vessel (or quick) you can see in each nail. Your ferret will lose a lot of trust in you for future trimmings if you muck this up as it is painful when cut and during healing.
If you do accidentally cut the quick, your ferret will probably yelp in pain, you'll jump, and blood will start gushing. It'll be ok though. Unless you have a clotting powder on hand, hold the wound with a paper napkin or kleenex until it stops bleeding. There is a chance you can keep your pet distracted with FerreTone while you do this. Then try trimming another time.
