>From: Gina Hart <[log in to unmask]> >To remove a ferret's claws, you must essentially remove their finger >tips and finger nail. Imagine how painful that would be. (deleted the rest of your message) hi gina and all ferrets and their owners. thank you for pointing this out. i didn't know that declawing was such a major operation for a ferret. i, like you, hate the thought of declawing any animal. i guess my thought is that one should resort to declawing as the absolute last resort. and i agree with you 100%, gina, concerning obtaining a ferret, or any other animal, on a whim. it upsets me *no end* to hear someone say, "oh, we had to get rid of fido (or tabby, or bunny, or birdie...) because he barked (meowed, squeaked, chirped...) too much." or how about this one: " when we bought spot, my little son *promised* that he would feed and walk and clean up after spot, but *i* ended up doing it, and i got tired of it, so we got rid of him." the one that pissed me off the most concerned the clueless guy who works at the pet store where we buy food, toys, litter boxes, etc. about a year ago when i was there, and he saw me buying ferret stuff, he proudly told me that he had just bought a baby ferret, and "ferret" was so cute, etc. etc. and when i was back in there earlier this week, and the same guy saw me buying more ferret supplies, he asked me if i would be interested in buying his ferret. because "ferret" turned out to be kind of a pain to take care of, and "ferret" required just too much attention, and etc. etc. etc. and, i swear, if he hadn't been so much bigger and stonger and younger than i, i would have wrung his neck. anyway, please forgive my ranting and raving. i know all you guys feel the same way. and gina, thanks again for the info. (i know your response wasn't a flame. it was too nice to be a flame.) linda and sassy fat cats (joshua, misty, raven, flossie) and whiskered weasel delinquents (alvin, sally, dweezil, and new baby sparky) [Posted in FML issue 1359]