I side with Bob (and am Ccing same to him) on expecting differences in most
of the muscle attachment sites of ferrets which have been declawed, with two
caveats: I have not personally examined the muscularity of those which have
lost the last phalanx on each finger -- 5 bones per foot -- except for
Scooter whose mother took off most of them on one forepaw at birth), and I'd
expect some other signs to be possible besides those Bob mentioned,
including greater than normal protuberances at the sites of muscles which
stablize lateral motion.  Why?  Because I've seen that the affected paw
causes balance problems for Scooter, and in any ferret with short paws in
relation to body size it would be logical to expect the same sorts of
balance difficulties hindering life.  One thing Bob may have to think about:
we've seen MORE digging of anything which does not need claws (such as soil,
water, and litter) from Scooter than anyone else.  His hand acts as a MUCH,
MUCH more efficient scoop!  (For those wondering, far too many years ago I
spent many years (till I caught a tropical disease in a field study and cut
short my schooling) as student curator of a comparative mammalian osteology
collection for the anatomy department of a major medical school, and YES,
you can tell a LOT from a skeleton and teeth: age range, gender, possible
race (robostisity, cervical spines, shovel incisors, etc.), possible
employment ( players of some musical instruments, baseball pitcher,
waitress, train conductor -- which gets us back to lateral stability when
you think about walking around in a swaying train all day), so expect bones
to tell tales, and don't assume offhand that the removal of five bones on
each paw is not going to have an effect on how well a body functions,
including remembering that exercise levels also have effects on the health
of the cardiovascular system, intestinal health (since it affects how fast
things move through), status (mental health), possible secondary sexual area
cancers as per the studies on human breast cancers being reduced by teenage
sports, and a LARGE range of other things.)
 
Bob, remember that Blanche, my stepmom, had an aortic dissection last year.
She had an aneurism, but that had been found only because her high blood
pressure warranted testing for anything which might be affected.  It didn't
blow, BTW -- she went below it in an area which had appeared fine in
testing.  There was no warning and nothing which could have been done.  An
arterial dissection in Razz just could not have been predicted.
 
Hope the above is understandable enough.  I am grogged out with asthma and
allergy meds.  Not a good time for my brain.  Steve says I appear like a
chalk-faced drunk from my breathing problems -- wonder what effect that has
on people's impressions of me? ;)!!!!!!!!!
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2072]