From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-07-13 15:25:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Bob C: Ferret Skeleton: Thoracic Limb
Bob, great post!
You would have found Scooter's hand interesting before he had his two
amputations. For the last few years he has had only his pollex and
second digit on that hand and is happy as a clam this way.
At first it was not known if he had a hand which had been damaged by
a novice mother, and that was thought to be the most likely cause.
Surgeries indicated that it may more likely have been a deformity
series. He had multiple digits within the same skin glove, but the
amazing thing was a twisty very thin semi-hard tissue growth (without
sensation and much more flexible than a claw) that erupted through
his skin, finally resulting in infection, and was trimmed whenever
claws were done. On the second surgery it was found that he had a
distal phalanx lying right smack-dab along the other phalanges of
that digit -- progressing proximally instead of distally. They were
touching and had no skin between; don't know if there was any other
soft tissue between.
Scoot's not the most robust of individuals except in general build,
but how much of that is his being a natural couch-potato we have to
exercise one-on-one, and how much may be due to further malformations
remains unknown at this time.
There's nothing in him so far anywhere near as extensive as Ruffle's
many deformities of hard and soft tissue, but you and Dr. Williams
know how unusual she was. (This was the little girl who, when she
passed away, had about 6 or so separate fatal things all happen at
once as well as multiple other growths, the one with misplaces major
blood vessels, extreme intellectual and social impairment, asthma,
malformations and proportion problems, etc. who lived to 6 years old
though no one expected her to last so long or so happily.)