Fysha, that is not an easy call.  A major amputation can be very
expensive in some locations (in the 4 figures), so what range are you
looking at for the alternative which is 8 times as much?  That is NOT to
say that you should not consider the alternative (having had a deformed
ferret who ran us $11,500 in medical expenses...) but would doing the
alternative so cut into your funds that other ferret medical care would
be negatively impacted?  That question has to be asked partly because
from our personal experience when one large malformation is present there
is a high risk of further ones being there so you need to budget for the
possibility.  If it doesn't come to pass that there are more deformities
then you and the ferret make out well, but if it does, then you are able
to provided needed care.  If you can afford the most expensive then
course then you need to ask yourself other questions.  How much function
is thought to be possible with the leg after repair?  (I ask because
while we certainly have had ferrets and other animals with reduced use of
a limb and not encountered problems I did years ago know a cat who had
this lead to a further injury which became gangrenous.) Does the ferret
have any problems found on testing which would make a long operation hard
to survive?  (This sounds like one on whom it pretty much pays to pull
out the stops on pre-op testing to be safest just in case.)  In the long
run all that you can do is to try your best by comparing the data you
get, considering possible future health needs, and taking the best
precautions.  The ferret will have a harder time adjusting to loss of a
leg than to repair of a leg and will be more handicapped, but over time
the ferret will make do, though one option will be harder than the other.
Each option has an aspect which would serve the ferret better but in
different ways: one giving a future buffer for other health surprises and
perhaps less time under anesthesia, and the other by reducing both the
handicap and adjustment.  Neither is wrong; they are just different types
of right.
[Posted in FML issue 4278]