This is my first post here, but I had to comment.
 
It's really not a good idea to declaw at all.  I've worked in a vet clinic,
and seen this procedure done on cats.  It's painful, and usually deforming
to a certain degree, even under the best of circumstances.  The one vet who
did this at the clinic where I worked, did it very reluctantly, and only
when the head vet said he had to.  This vet did a good job, but we would
get some cats from other clinics that did horrible jobs, some having to
have two-three surgeries to fix the damage (or what could be fixed.).
 
It's banned in most European countries because the risks far outweigh the
benefits.  Especially with ferrets, it is very different because cats have
retractable claws, and the joint removed is smaller, therefore affecting
the paw less.  with a ferret it would be like removing your finger to the
first joint.  You could function, but it would affect your hand.  If the
vet won't take the time to remove the digit and just clips through the
bone (a common practice still), many things can go wrong, like infection,
improper healing, and sometimes regrowth of the nail inside the foot, all
of which lead usually to more surgery.
 
For more info see: http://www.acmeferret.com/ifns/vol2no3.txt
 
Hope this helps.
 
Silver
[Posted in FML issue 2461]