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]