>In browsing through some of the info, I did run across something that I
>was unsure of/shocked by.  In my 10 plus years of being around ferrets,
>I've never heard of anyone wanting to declaw a ferret.  One particular
>bit of information states that ferrets will typically use a litterbox but
>using corners is a common problem.  It also states that they like to dig
>on carpet and can dig holes in carpets and sofas and for this reason they
>are SOMETIMES DECLAWED.  I can't imagine anyone declawing a ferret because
>of the way their foot structure is.  Can anyone help with this one?  I
>hope this isn't being done!  This just can't be right!
 
It is not a good thing to do.
 
That said, some vets wind up stuck in the middle and have to do it to
save a ferret.  That is because some folks who get ferrets absolutely
INSIST on it.
 
Now, I know that digits can be removed or partly removed by a good
vet without bad consequences for the ferret because we have one with
a partial toe due to a mother partly removing it and another with a
partial foot due to a deformity.  The first had to have a corrective
surgery when the bone finally went through the skin and the second
required two corrective surgeries. Neither has any problems, and they
dash about and climb happily. We have one other who will possibly
wind up with the last phalanx on one foot removed due to an old break
that is wearing away what remains of the joint and we have no worries
about those who do such surgeries well.
 
The problems happen when a vet who is not good with ferrets is used for
such surgeries, and those problems can be whoppers.
 
So, the good vets are in a hard situation.  What most do is to provide
alternative possible solutions to the person and emphasize that those
will save a lot of money, but -- rather than see the ferret butchered by
someone who doesn't know ferrets (or even killed by someone who doesn't
know which anesthesia to prefer or how to keep them warm enough
post-surgically) -- they make themselves available for doing something
they would rather NOT do instead of the ferret winding up with constantly
painful and crippled feet.  Have heard of more cases than are at all
comfortable of people who will have a ferret or cat destroyed if it is not
declawed.  Such things not a case of a bad vet; they are ones of a bad
"owner/client".
 
You are right about the structure -- the last phalanx (bone) of each toe
has to be removed so it's an amputation.
 
In the past I have heard people who would prefer that the vets allow the
ferrets to be taken elsewhere to be maimed or destroyed, but that is not
their call; they are not in that terrible position of choosing between
two bad alternatives and they have no right to yell at those who are.
Walking a mile in someone else's shoes, and so on...
[Posted in FML issue 3686]