Ruth, one of the country’s staunchest advocates against declawing, forwarded a couple of photographs to me of a red, spotted tabby-and-white cat being declawed together with a photograph of the cat after being declawed. The screenshot is below.
Jim, a visitor comments (see below): “The woman on the left is the vet and the one who, according to the post, threw the severed cat toes at a third person, apparently a student intern, who was the one who took the photo and wrote the comments. The cat on the right is not the same cat as the one on the left…but apparently was subjected to declawing. It’s still very disturbing and discouraging.” This clears things up. My description off the photos is not accurate with respect to the parties but it does not change what is happening with respect to ethics and moral code.
Perhaps I needn’t add words to this page but I will add a few. I am compelled to. I presume the photograph on the left shows the veterinarian and his assistant declawing this cat. I don’t know the name of the person who made the comments which are below the photograph but they are crass beyond belief and appear to be made by the vet. The behaviour of this couple of medics during the declawed operation is highly objectionable. It is nauseous.
The veterinarian is laughing at the fact that his assistant threw at him the fragments of bone and the claws that had been amputated from this cat’s smashed toes. He actually finds it amusing. Amusing for God’s sake! Only a vet who is completely desensitised to the reality of what he is doing could behave in this manner. And then to post the photos online. Extraordinary. Update: Please read the comments by Ruth on this as she has a better grasp of the ‘players’. This article was written from the screenshot alone.
In the picture on the right we see the aftermath of the declawing operation. This is the classic, fearful, racked with pain, face and posture of a cat who has suffered 10 amputations at the same time, which all took place within about 15 minutes and therefore the operation is quite likely a botch. The vet or assistant finds the photo amusing for some macabre reason.
I am shocked and I am in despair because these vets certainly do not care and by that I mean the vets who genuinely believe that declawing is acceptable and which is part of their culture. Shame on him and her. They are not fit to be veterinary medics.
To be an excellent vet you have to have empathy with the patient. That is as important as knowledge and skill. It is also telling that a trainee vet (if I am correct) is doing the operation. It tells us how routine and unimportant it is to the clinic.
You can actually see part of the shaved area for the spaying of the cat in the cage. I have assisted at many spays and never once seen a cat cringing in a corner like that after the surgery, look at her paws up the wall, look at her eyes full of pain and shock at waking up to find her toe ends gone and tell me how that deserves the caption ‘poor kitty ha ha’
It doesn’t matter how many cats are in the pictures, that isn’t the point, the point is that we were told by the captions what happened. The cat being declawed had her amputated toe ends thrown around in fun, the caption under the young terrified cat in the cage clearly states spay,declaw. Not a last resort at all for serious scratching behaviour, but a spay/convenience declaw package for a student at the clinic.
I just hope the declawing ban goes through in New York, it’s very badly needed!
Thanks Susan for reminding us of Jean Hofve’s work.
The fact that the cats might not be the same seems irrelevant to me as the picture on the left and the words below it shout out: crappy behavior.
That might be the case but does it change anything?
Irish, that is the worst post declaw scenario that I have ever heard. Very disturbing. But, more disturbing, is why no one prevented that poor cat from harming himself to that extent.