Why not just go to http://marshallpet.com/marshall2/resources/mp_contact.asp and <http://marshallpet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=3> and ask them? I have heard that which toe is used tells who did the surgeries to track whose work might ever have problems, but I have absolutely NO idea if that or any other outside claim is accurate, so ask the people who know why it was done, and then share that info here. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." (2010, Steve Crandall) [Posted in FML 7034]