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.
Hi, like all the online news media stories not matter how shocking, they seem to fade away in the mists of time and quite quickly in a fast moving internet. I’ll see if I can find an answer to your question. Thanks for asking.
Have there been any updates since this was brought to light? I live in this town and have heard nothing about it… Even was told it was a “hoax” or someone created this and posted it to get revenge. The clinic’s page said the photos are misrepresented, but didn’t deny that it never happened. Clarity needs to be shed upon the partipants and their account of what happened and why it was posted as such.
We feel as angry as you. The behavior of the vet and intern is symptomatic of the general attitude of American vets to declawing. They don’t care.
WTH!! If the interns think it is damn funny, I wanna amputated her and throw her arms or legs around, will that be funny?? And why shouldn’t declawing be made BANNED across the world? cant SPCA voice out on this issue? Cats’ claws can just be trim and that is all!! It takes less than 5 mins to trim their claws. Mine too less than 5 mins! What is wrong with the vets? Don’t they have any feelings towards the poor kitty?? Let me scratch the intern and the vets face!! I will make them pay for this!! Such an insensitive person, shouldn’t be working in this kind of environment!!
Thanks for contributing Diego.
I don’t know if these people ever heard of germs. Those gloves being worn are not sterile gloves. Those are vinyl gloves, the type worn when you are about to touch something dirty like soiled linen or are about to examine an infected area of someone’s body.