Revealing: Declawing Vet Talks About Declawing
by Michael
(London, UK)
Just below the maps, you can play an audio file to listen to a declawing vet talk about declawing. It is revealing and instructive and I would be pleased to hear your views on it. I have extracted some of the things that he says and made my comments but would appreciate the views of a wider audience. His introduction is a bit garbled but it clears up. There is a bit of echo which is due to the recording on my computer. It is clear though.
The vet’s name is Dr. Greg Stram. He works with his partner at the Elk Grove Pet Clinic at 615 South Meacham Road, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, 847-524-8387.
Below is the “on-the-ground-view” directly outside the clinic.
The link immediately below is an audio file – just click on the link and it should start your windows media player for a PC:
Dr. Stram talking about declawing – file opens in a new window or tab.
The link below is for Apple computers than run Quick Time Player:
Dr. Stram talking about declawing – this file also opens in a new window or tab and your media player should be visible to play this file.
Dr. Stram starts off by saying, “If you’ve made the decision to declaw your cat..”. What looks wrong about that? Answer: The AVMA policy makes it clear that the vet has an obligation to provide a “complete education with regard to feline onychectomy….it should only be considered after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively etc…” Dr. Stram is leaving the decision making to the cat owner and he does not educate. I’ll tell you why. He has declawed “hundreds and hundreds” of cats he says. If the code as laid down by the toothless AVMA is followed there would be almost none. A vet has a very onerous responsibility to avoid declawing and find alternatives while educating the client about the true nature of declawing. Dr. Stram in my opinion fails miserably at the first hurdle.
He continues to explain that one reason for deciding to declaw is because furniture gets scratched and a child might play too roughly with a cat and get scratched. These are his declared reasons for declawing! How about educating the client and child to play gently with the cat? How about educating the client to buy a cat scratching post etc.? Dr. Stram immediately shows up his indoctrinated and insensitive approach to animal welfare.
The vet then describes three main techniques for cat declawing. The standard technique he calls the “Resco Technique”. He says it is a “guillotine type nail trimmer” that chops “the nail off of the paw” How bad is that? He is completely misleading the public by saying the “nail” is being removed when he means the last joint of the toe. There is a vast difference. Note also the use of the phrase “nail trimmer” – highly misleading in respect of its use in this operation. He admits that “it is crude way to declaw an animal.” “It makes a good sized hole….the holes are very big..” he says! The device is not sharp enough he says. He admits that there is a “good deal of tearing and not enough of a cutting motion..” This is a horror story not a description of a medical operation! Unless you are really, really good at using the device the animal will be in a lot of pain afterwards he says. Dr Stram also admits that a piece of bone can be left behind (to cause immeasurable pain for the rest of the cat’s life). As I understand it this device has been used millions, yes millions of times to declaw cats – err no….mutilate and abuse them. That would leave many tens of thousands, at a guess, with bone shards in their paws.
Dr. Stram then describes the laser declaw. Once again he says that this device requires skill. “The leaser seals the edge of the skin by burning it…by burning the edge of the skin…it delays the healing..not as good a method as using the scalpel..” Well as gruesome as it sounds he criticises laser declawing as less good than a good old sharp knife. That puts a dampener on the claims by many vets that laser declawing is almost pain free.
He uses the scalpel to “cut the four tenny little ligaments that hold the claw on”. Once again Dr. Stam is blurring the boundary between the claw itself, the piece of anatomy that people see and the claw and bone together that form the last phalange of the toe. He calls the last phalange and the claw “the claw”. This is highly misleading and unethical.
“We do a great deal of pain management..” You need to! “We’ve done hundreds and hundreds of cats..” As mentioned if declawing was carried out ethically by a decent veterinarian who genuinely had the welfare and health of the cat in mind there would be almost no declawing. Clearly Dr. Stram is a typically unethical American veterinarian who has entirely lost his moral compass in respect of his work.
He speaks dispassionately, almost innocently about cat declawing as if there is nothing wrong with it when done at the behest and convenience of the cat owner. This shows a deeply ingrained distorted mentality.
What are your thoughts?
Hi Vanessa. You’ll be a good vet and you’ll spread the word. It is a good job but remember you’ll have to make a profit out of it. Don’t let that necessity force you to lose your ethical standards and do things that are against the oath. The oath is absolute. 99% of vets in the USA declaw cats. They are all in breach of their oath.
Thanks for commenting.
I plan to be a vet when I grow up, because it seems like an amazing experience, to go and have a job that I will love. People like this listless, repulsive vet have forgotten about what it’s like to work saving and helping animals. Whatever happened to never bringing pain to them, and only to help them? Vets like these also don’t inform their clients about this pressing issue, and are mostly supporting it for the large sums of money made off of it. He fails to tell the truth about declawing, and leaves out most of the important details on it.
He’s telling people to remove their cats’ claws, but in reality it means AMPUTATING not only their attack methods, but a portion of the bones as well! Persuading the public to give into such cruelty in one word: Absolutely revolting!