Veterinarian laughs when his assistant throws the amputated claws of the cat at him during the operation
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.
Vet messes around with assistant through declaw operation
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.
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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.
But you have absolutely no problems with using scalpels to gleefully and happily scoop-out the reproductive organs of cats, a procedure even more invasive and taking even more time to heal-up than declawing. Your hypocrisy is astounding — a glaringly blatant hypocrisy that everyone but you can see that.
You are incorrect Trace H. Spaying and neutering is done for both the benefit of humans and cats. It stops cats procreating – producing more cats which are unwanted and often killed. 99% of the time declawing is done for the benefit of the person only – the operation has no therapeutic value whatsoever for the cat. That is the big difference. I am surprised that you had not seen it.
In addition spaying has health benefits for cats and neutering of males is almost painless whereas declawing is massively painful and not infrequently leads to complications. The operations are very different on many levels.
Dear Michael-
I know you are in total agreement with my prior statement; because I and many other’s are keenly aware of how deeply you love and support animal rights.God Bless and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
Your friend, Eva
That is sick.
If any one of us could begin to imagine or experience the trauma, fear and excruciating pain these or any animals have to endure, we humans would outlaw such monstrous and selfish acts within a short time, in all countries. I am of the firm conviction that if a pet owner is offended by the animals body parts that he or she should not ever be allowed to adopt., or even be a sitter to them.
Eva_ serial killers were once or initially started acting out their abusive behaviors on animals.Just because one animal or hundreds are subjected to barbaric procedures, this still does not make it right.
Well said Eva. As you know I totally agree with you.
There more support for banning this surgery. More and more are growing every day. Including vets.
Yes, I believe, you are correct, Elizabeth. It’s a slow process but change in occurring.
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!!
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.
Their calloused act has been written about in this book against declawing. Grab your free copy today:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Declaw-Cat-Problems-Alternatives-ebook/dp/B00T1UPPPU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423311083&sr=8-3&keywords=declawing
Thanks for the info.
If this happened to one of my cats, there would be a lawyer in the mix. I think they should have some serious actions taken against them! We trust our loved anaimals with vets, and this is what takes place. Shame on them all!
Total agreement. A vet commented and defended them to a certain extent saying that vets did mess around when operating to relieve stress. This looks like callousness to me. A disregard for what they are doing: an unnecessary multiple mutilation.
The vets I worked with never messed around in the operating theatre. The younger ones would have a bit of fun in their lunch break, but never while in charge of, or at the expense of any animal.
One of the comments on the petition implies that the cat in the corner was merely sitting there coming round from the anaesthetic. What a load of rubbish, she was hiding her painful mutilated paws in the corner in shock and fear.
the ‘ha ha poor kitty’ under the picture was totally inaproppriate and insensitive!
Mine too Lisa, I’d be getting a lawyer for sure! I wouldn’t trust any vet who declaws anywhere near our cats anyway.
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.
Thanks Jim. You have cleared it up neatly and concisely which is great.
Lots of various versions going round so thanks for this, there must have been 3 people of course, one taking the photos. Yes it’s very disturbing and discouraging but it was doing our cause a lot of good, exposing declawing as something unsterile and amusing to some vet staff.
Unfortunately some anti declaws have made death threats to the staff, which is no help at all of course 🙁
I saw somewhere the person Laura who started the petition has been threatened with a law suit. But surely the clinic won’t want the publicity of doing that, exposing the terrified cat in the cage and the amputated toe ends of the other being thrown around, the caption under the photos are clear, the one in the cage was spayed and declawed. I can imagine a crowd of anti declaws at that courtroom! Not good for the clinic’s business at all!
In their statement they say ‘The second image was of a student’s cat, hospitalized for a different reason’
yet underneath that picture it says spay * declaw, so, that kitten which belonged to a student was so destructive she had to be declawed was she ???? …hmmm……obviously convenience declawing, they must think we were born yesterday!!!
Maybe people should actually get the story straight before starting such a mass debate and ruining the credibility of the vet. Only the people involved know what happened and to make assumptions without knowing facts makes everyone an ass who assumes! Agreed that actions speak louder then words but the pictures don’t match!! The pic on the left is a tabby and the one on the right is a orange/white! Two completely different cats.
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.
In human medicine, that is a malpractice suit. Please spread the word about this anti-declaw book, free offer today in amazon kindle ebooks. You don’t need a reader, just the app downloaded to any device.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Declaw-Cat-Problems-Alternatives-ebook/dp/B00T1UPPPU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423311083&sr=8-3&keywords=declawing
Thanks for commenting. Great. I agree that someone should take this further.
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!
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’
The paws up the wall stance is probably to take the pressure off her mutilated feet 🙁 It must be agonising for her trying to take her body weight on her front paws.
Like I said in an earlier post,the photo is irrelevant whether it is the same cat or not !!!!!!!!
I hope this link works:
http://www.yousignanimals.org/Vet-laughs-as-assistant-throws-the-amputated-claws-of-cat-at-her-during-surgery-t-1524
Has anyone the link to the petition about this please? I was told there is one but I can’t find it.
How can any of you “activists” not tell that the cat in the left hand picture is definitely not the same cat that is in the right hand picture??? I am not a vet but I have all of the cat calendars since 1982 and know that the left hand cat is a tiger/tabby with black obviously in it and the right is pure white and orange calico. If you ask me, and see the obvious differences in the pictures, this is pure hoopla and a bunch of people trying to get a few minutes of your time.
Sondra. I think you make a good point about the cat. It is quite tricky to tell if they are the same cat. They are both red tabby-and-white it seems to me. The right hand cat is not a calico in my view. This is a diluted red tabby-and-white. However. They may not be the same cat because there appears to be more white on the underside of the cat on the right. I missed this when I wrote the article.
But does that change anything at heart? The cat on the left is being declawed and the vet and assistant are messing around when they do it. And the cat on the right has been declawed as I understand it and shows classic signs of pain and fear.
The message stays the same: this is bad. This is not hoopla. This is real. There it is, in black and white, in the words under the pictures. You’re just trying to muddy the waters. Confuse the issue.
We are not activists, we are animal lovers concerned with their welfare! As Michael says, what does it matter if it was one cat or two, one was pictured being mutilated and her healthy necessary toe ends played with before being tossed in the trash! The other was pictured terrified! You can’t change that!
Not the same cat!!!
Two different cats! Open ur eyes!!
That might be the case but does it change anything?
Who the “F’ cares?
Wot does it matter that it is a different photo,that isnt even important in my book,this discussion is about this vets and staff apathy in regards to mocking a cat just newly declawed and Sue when I said punch in throat I meant every word,I care not that it bothered ye,I’m bothered still by the last assisted declawing I did,ye were not there,ye didnt have to hold a sobbing owner because her cat died,last night I found out 2 other people I know had their cats declawed this past Friday,this is my rant on facebook after I found out and if anyone here has an issue with my rant then I am sorry but I feel strongly about this issue!
RANT
It seems of late there have been more people having their cats declawed and those that have done this whether ye are my friend or family know that all cats have the right to bear claws,if ye have not done this vile cruel deed to ye cat but are entertaining the thought then do me a favor,REHOME YE CAT,ye have no business having a cat if ye furniture and material things are more important to ye,cats claws are like our fingers,how would ye like ye finger cut off to the first knuckle,hmmmm,I have seen a cat kill itself due to the horrific pain because the pain was that unbearable,ever hit ye thumb/finger with a hammer? well the pain is 20 times worse for a cat newly declawed,and those that say their cats were just fine after being declawed are LIARS,as a cat gets older their paws and joints become arthritic,they have litter box issues,their personality changes from the former affectionate cat to a hostile aggressive cat and most wind up be surrendered to a shelter where it most likely will be PTS because of wot ye did,I have heard every excuse in the world for getting a cat declawed,the onethat bothered me the most was a friend who told me he was getting his cat declawed because it scratched his toddler and I gave him every option and other resources not to declaw his cat,well he did it anyway so he is no longer a part of my life,I had a former friend who adopted a kitten and then a few days later bought new furniture and then comes over to my house to tell me she is getting her kitten declawed,I pleaded and begged her not to do it but she did anyway,right now in the state of NY an assembly woman has introduced a new Bill banning declawing in our state and I hope to gawd it gets passed,I currently have a declawed cat that her former owner had done and sheis one of the most hissiest pisseist cats I have ever had,she is aggressive towards my other cats,she will NOT use the litter box so I have to lay out a cheap shower curtain on my carpet upstairs as a huge puppy pad and I have to clean it up every day,anyone else most likely would have surrendered her to our shelter and if adopted most likely returned because of her aggressiveness and she would be PTS and I cant bear the thought of that happening to her,tis not her fault but her former owners so again I am telling ye to rehome ye cat if ye want to get it declawed,photo is of a cat who was just declawed,rant over!
Well said Irish! I’ve heard some horrific stories over the years about the pain, shock and anguish of newly declawed cats and I’ve always said suicide is not a option for cats, but that poor cat was in so much pain she actually did do it.
How can anyone justify declawing when this has happened even once! I’ve heard about cats throwing themselves around the cage and bleeding, cats cringing in the corner too shocked to move and you are here to tell us it’s all true!
What sort of vet would even risk that happening? What sort of vet amputates cats toe ends for convenience sake? What sort of vet advertises declawing? It’s shocking and disgusting and they need to STOP IT RIGHT NOW! The Paw Project vets must be in deep distress over their colleagues who do this, they are struggling to repair mutilated paws while declawing vets carry on crippling more cats, many of who will have to live with lifelong pain because the Paw Project can’t help them all.
I’m more determined than ever to help get declawing stopped!
I’m behind every law to ban declawing and Ruth thankye so much for advocating the cause,ye rock!
So do you and you are an asset to our International group already!
Since age five this “female veterinarian” volunteered at a local veterinary office scooping poop, walking pets and giving love to every animal that she could – for free.
After 12 determined years of schooling to achieve her degree she continues to do the same. This woman has cried, rejoiced and bereaved with her clients.
In a few cases she has actually, with the owner’s permission, taken unwanted pets into her own home.
She does not make much money. She fights for all animals, including your pets. This woman is compassionate, loving and kind. She is better than we are. You would want her as not only a friend, but your pet’s trusted doctor.
Thanks Gracie for commenting. If she is so kind etc. why is she declawing a cat and messing around at the same time? Declawing for non-therapeutic purposed is against the vet’s oath. She is in breach of the most fundamental core principles of her work.
Most of the people here are involved with animal welfare, personally I’ve lived with, worked with and volunteered with animals all my adult life, so she is no exception. Sadly her good work is out shadowed now by allowing the young intern to show what goes on behind closed doors! Sorry but I wouldn’t ever entrust my cats to that clinic.
Many vets have no choice in the matter. They work for a Banfield or a VCA or some other owner and must do as they are told or risk losing a job they need. That is one of the primary reasons I now own my own clinic, so I can make the rules! I honestly think that the vets who defend doing declaws have no idea of the long-term issues it causes for the cats. I was never taught that and only found out by doing my own research. Education of both vets and cat owners is key. Legislation to ban would be even better because that would take the whole thing off the table!
The picture the intern posted was misguided for sure, but I suspect she was mostly just wanting her friends to know she works in a veterinary clinic, of which she is proud, and that the vet jokes with her, of which she is proud. Young people post foolish things every second.
About the picture of the declawing: just because the assistant is not wearing gloves does not mean this is not sterile. She may just be holding the arm as the vet glues or bandages. She is not touching the surgical site. After the glue is applied the surgery site is no longer open. Furthermore, once the bandages come off (if any are applied), the area is then subjected to no end of filth from floor, the cat’s tongue, the litterbox. It is really a horribly hard place to keep clean by any means. And when I did declaw I removed bandages within a few hours as the poor kitties detested the bandages and would harm themselves trying to remove them. As soon as they started trying I would remove them for them. Believe me when I say that it would be counterproductive in every way for a vet not to follow sterile technique. No one would want the bad reputation or financial obligation that would ensue if surgical sites became infected routinely.
Sue, if it’s difficult for vets to find employment with clinics which don’t declaw, does that mean the procedure is more common than we’d imagined? I’ve read estimates that around 30% of cats in the USA are declawed, but have no idea if that is correct. Have you encountered many declawed cats during your career as a vet?
I was once a young girl and happy and proud to get my first job working for a vet, but I would never ever have taken photos of terrified animals to share ‘the fun’ of amputating a cat’s toe ends and throwing them around and proclaim it a good day. That girl is clearly immature and unfit to work with animals, I spent my early days crying at night over the pain and shock the animals suffered over necessary surgical procedures, not making fun of them.
Thankfully our vets never ever declawed cats even before it was banned here, they took an oath to cause no animal to suffer, declawing breaks that oath.
But just supposing I had stupidly wanted to take photos to show off, guess what, the vet would have stopped me!
It was highly unprofessional of that vet to allow it and if I lived there I would never ever trust anyone at that clinic with my cats and I would make sure all my friends knew why!
Yes have a laugh, a bit of light relief, but there’s a time and a place for it and that is not around unconscious or terrified patients!
This is unethical behavior by professionals that took a oath and should be retrained in compassion and loose their license.
Thanks for commenting Diana.
I’d like to add my 2 cents worth. I am a vet. I do not perform declaws. Or any other procedure done for non-medical reasons. The picture of the kitten in the cage is indeed heartbreaking as she is clearly terrified.
I had a little buff tabby in yesterday for a spay and she too was so very scared and postured in the same way. We picked her up and held her and loved on her and she was soon purring and making biscuits. She was also very happy after her procedure and no longer acted scared. We did not take her picture before she had been calmed but had we done that you might think that we were also cruel and heartless.
I don’t think you should make such huge leaps of conjecture based on a photo as you don’t know what happened before or after the photo. I understand that passions run strong and declawing or any form of animal abuse or neglect can be infuriating, nauseating, etc.
But suggesting that any particular veterinary care worker should be throat-punched or strung up is counterproductive and makes whoever says it sound a little over the top. As far as throwing the claws automatically meaning the workers are heartless is probably incorrect. We do make jokes a lot. If we didn’t we would succumb to the stress and sadness of the job.
We may make a joke about how a tumor we just removed looks like a brain or some such thing and laugh about it, even though that dog is likely going to die from the tumor having metastasized to the liver. That doesn’t mean we are not heartbroken about the dog and her illness. We are serious most of the time and we cry a lot of tears and carry home in our hearts a great deal of stress and sadness. We try to lighten the mood when we can. We get excited when we get a “good” abscess. That doesn’t mean we wish the cat with the abscess any ill will.
We want to make him well, but we will have fun with the abscess in the meantime. You might not understand that unless you work in the field. we have to find humor and fun when and where we can, but I guarantee you that the vast majority of veterinary workers are in the field because they have great love of and passion for the animals. And we are not laughing all the way to the bank.
The entire field is grievously underpaid. I am on your side. I am part of the no declaw movement and am for animal rights and an end to kill shelters and improvements in the way farm animals are treated and a stop to animal experimentation, etc, etc. But, I caution you to use your indignation to make changes and not just rant and rave. That only makes people think us animal lovers are all stark-raving lunatics.
I understand the need for venting. I do it as well. I’m doing it now. It does bother me when people make broad assumptions about things that they really do not know the facts about. I am an evil, money-grubbing person according to many because I insist on being paid for services.
I did declaw at one time because when I cam out of vet school it was just a given that that is what was done. At that time there was no discussion about there being long-term pain and behavior issues. I didn’t like doing it but I didn’t like doing anything that caused pain, even necessary things. Still don’t. But I have to hurt animals in order to help them.
I agree, Sue, that people who care about cats should not make presumptions and sweeping statements. Neither should they rant and rave because it paints a picture of cat lovers as too emotional and not pragmatic enough. However, it seems to me, with the greatest of respect, that you are also making sweeping statements because you refer to “we” throughout your welcome comment.
You appear to be representing all the veterinarians in the USA. For the past 8 years I have written about declawing and there are many veterinarians who have a callous approach to declawing. Some of them promote it with discounts, for example. Nearly every vet in the USA declaws cats. There are some that don’t but as a proportion of the whole it is a very low percentage.
The declaw operation is intrinsically against the oath of the veterinarian and unethical. Just doing it is wrong and callous never mind laughing about it at the same time. That said, once again I agree that cat lovers should be cautious in their words when they criticise veterinarians who declaw.
Pages tagged with declawing cats.
There is a lot of frustration. Nothing is changing. Millions of cats are declawed. The vets defend bans on declawing with lies saying that it saves lives by reducing abandonments. It is horrible and blatantly wrong. It is time the vets stopped. No ifs and buts or maybes.
Thanks for commenting. It is appreciated.
By “we” I was actually referring primarily to me and my fellow staff members here at this clinic. We (at my clinic) have actually discussed how we find things interesting or funny that others may find gross. We have also discussed when it is the right time and the wrong time to make joke.
Again, some of the vets you are referring to may indeed be telling lies but I think most are telling what they believe to be the truth. I think many really believe that they may be keeping a cat in a home because (1) that is what the client says and (2) there are no studies that say otherwise. I know The Paw Project is working on trying to compile new information to try and prove that it is not true. Right now their is only conflicting and anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
Things are changing. New York is considering a ban. Hawaii is considering a ban. Much like the Marriage Equality situation, once a state or two passes a ban it will start the ball rolling to a nationwide movement.
The link I provided in my previous comment goes to a page written essentially by an American vet, Dr Doub (Paw Project-Utah) who states that declawing does not stop abandonments. In any event if a cat owner wants to abandon her cat because of the cat’s claws, it is ridiculous. Declawing is not the answer. Changing the mentality of the owner is the answer. The argument that declawing stops abandonments is piling bad on bad (delcawing on top of bad cat caretaking). Bad on bad does not equal good.
Dr. Sue,
Regarding “there are no studies that say otherwise.” Have you read Dr. Jean Hofve’s work on her site Little Big Cat? There are 2 pertaining to the studies:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/declawing-and-science/
http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/studies-pertaining-to-declawing-onychectomy/
Thanks Susan for reminding us of Jean Hofve’s work.
As a Brit, I’d never even heard of declawing until I came across it on the internet almost 10 years ago. The more I learned about the procedure, the more horrified I became.
At the time although declawing information was readily available from American sites, I could find very little from British or European vets on the subject, other than to say it was banned on the grounds it is a non-therapeutic procedure which interferes with sensitive tissues and bone structure.
I decided to ask my vet if he knew where I could find European case studies or information as to why declawing was banned. He replied “You won’t, because you don’t need case studies to know declawing is cruel”.
If British, European and Australian vets chose not to declaw long before bans were legally introduced, why do some vets in North America continue pretending that it’s not a disabling procedure? Do they really care more about making money or pandering to the whims of clients, than they do about their patients? They have sworn an oath to put the welfare of their patients first, but sadly that is not the case with far too many vets.
What we can do, even from other countries, even only to like the Paw Project page will help…..
I wish there was more that could be done! My heart breaks for these poor, defenseless creatures!
We care. We feel their pain. This vet and her assistant don’t. Strange isn’t it?
All we can do is fight to get declawing stopped, a ban would take the smile off the faces of those who think it’s funny.
Hi Ruth and everyone.
Thanks for contacting the AVMA. If everyone does that they will HAVE to notice the outrage that we as devoted cat lovers are expressing. Together we can make an impact- and let the AVMA know about these uncaring and unfeeling veterinarians who are practicing very BAD medicine. Let’s all take action. It is truly urgent.
Yes I was hoping everyone will back up your letter by contacting the AVMA too Jo, we WILL NOT be ignored!
There’s a contact form on the AVMA page …..I’ve written……..Concerning Dr. Jill Colburn. Moonbrook Veterinary Hospital, Jamestown, New York and the un-named intern who posted the pictures, assisting her at the declawing of a cat. The disgusting picture of those people having fun while amputating a cat’s toe ends, needs to be investigated. Also the cat cringing in the corner of the cage and the comment ‘poor kitty ha ha’ These pictures are all over the internet and it’s to be hoped the owners of those cats don’t see them. Neither of those women having fun, is wearing a surgical gown or a mask. Declawing is barbaric and should be illegal as it is in other civilised countries, but what is even worse is veterinary clinic staff making light of serious major surgery which cripples cats for life and calling it ‘a good day’ and sharing the pictures!
Maybe more people can let the AVMA know how disgusted we are!
All this is horrible for people to see, but it’s very good for our cause because the truth is there, amputating a cat’s toe ends is to some vets and their staff amusing, as is a cat cringing in terror in the corner of a cage.
Also the fact that neither of those in the picture were wearing surgical gowns or masks, happily mutilating a cat, her toe ends thrown around for fun then into the trash shows blatant disrespect for cats!
She will no doubt end up in a shelter one day and may not be lucky enough to be rescued and helped by a Paw Project vet. The comments on face book about it happening a lot are horrific, tales of cats declawed by mistake, vet techs stories of leaving because of the disrespect to cats by other staff, I just hope word keeps spreading.
Declaw vets are EVIL, as are the staff who enjoy assisting them!
Ruth could ye please send me a link for this photo on facebook to share,yesterday I posted a few pieces about declawing on my facebook wall asking others to share and it saddens me not one share at all,to me those that make the claim that they love animals and are in the movement would have complied,animal activists cannot be selective because to do so other ar issues go un-noticed,here is my facebook link Ruth if ye too have an acct and if not then please email the link to me!
email
ei****@ya***.com
Hi Irish. Your comment was held up by software because it contains 2 links. Sorry, it was not me. Thanks for commenting.
Hi, I’ve emailed you the pics and requested a friendship on face book and sent you the link to the International anti declaw group my sister and I co founded 6 years ago x
Tis okay Michael,I got the links through Ruth via email and facebook :O)
I am just so incredibly disturbed by this. I came home to my happy boy running to greet me, and the impact of declawing really clicked for me.
He’s my first pet as an adult. He trusts me to care for him, and I made a commitment to do so. Of course I don’t want him scratching my couch or me, but I would NEVER want him to wake up with his body parts amputated leaving him hobbled, disabled, and in excrutiating pain. Sick! Sick! Sick! It’s a like a hellish scene from a horror movie!
Surely this horrific experience causes “feline PTSD”. How does a cat ever recover from that? I know I would never be the same if my friend did that to me and I didn’t understood why.
I am just so incredibly disturbed by this. I just got home from work to my happy boy running to greet me. He trusts me to care for him. I made a commitment to do so. I also have a fairly new couch. Yeah, I’d be ticked off if he destroyed it, I would NEVER want him to wake up with his body parts amputated leaving him hobbled, disabled, and in excrutiating pain. Sick! Sick! Sick! It’s a like a hellish scene from a horror movie.
They should be hog tide bloody bastards how would they like all there digits taken off,I’m appalled at such callous standards .how do they kitties walk withsuch pain. No wwonder Jackson is called to help terrified kitties . god knows some of them may have had it done. Step up SPCAs
I feel like you. It is a terrible indictment of the training vets receive. It is a culture thing. They just don’t think it is unethical to declaw cats.
A cat was NEVER meant to be without it’s claws. Let me rephrase this statement [ CLAWs and TOE BONES ] This may be hard for some of us to watch , but imagine how much harder it is for the cat to bear. To wake up in horrible pain , unable to understand, unable to walk steady or use the litter box or ask it’s parents > owners WHY? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS Mommy Daddy I Hurt SO MUCH !?&*)(?/&&(R? HELP ME PLEASE.
So is their furniture that important?
Are these types of people too lazy to train their cats they profess to Love?
I wonder how the owners of those cats feel seeing their cats publicly mocked? If it were me, I’d be paying that vet a very close and personal visit from my fist.
That poor little cat in the corner. Their pain and fear is written all over them 🙁
They are not even wearing surgical gowns or masks, what’s the betting that poor cat ends up with an infection. I hope the owners of those cats do see the pictures and make public that those two had fun mutilating their cats and were laughing at a cat obviously in terror.
It just goes to prove how callous these vets are. They’re only in it for the money, they don’t give a damn about the welfare of their patients.
I agree with you Ruth. Why on earth aren’t people boycotting clinics which carry out declawing? If their business began to suffer because clients were taking their pets elsewhere, they would very quickly change their policy. Hitting these vets in their pocket, is going to be far more effective than any amount of public campaigning.
While this may be a fool’s quest, I wrote to the AVMA this afternoon about this. I did not dwell on anti-declaw specifically, but I focused on this vet and her assistant’s lack of professionalism and compassion, etc.
I attached the photos, and the text “ha ha ha”, etc, and a link to Moonbrook’s website, their address and phone number, and copied what had been available on their facebook page. The AVMA has read it, but so far has not responded. I was so upset and angry when I wrote it my hands were shaking- but I did a spell check before I sent it off.
I think my email was straight to the point.
This veterinarian and her comrade should be sanctioned. Just my humble opinion.
Good for you Jo, even if they don’t reply they must read your letter and you are right, those two should be sanctioned, I just hope they are!
I posted on the AVMA’s Facebook timeline.
Curious to see if they delete it.
Good one Dee! It’s still there up to now but likely will disappear as all anti declaw comments do, to keep the truth hidden.
Here was ny post and their response….
ME:
I am one of a multitude of Americans who demand that this barbaric practice be stopped.
We, also, want this vet to have some disciplinary action for her callused, cruel demure
THEIRS:
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Dee, we’ve been in contact with the clinic, and the story being spread here is not true. We know that you disagree with declawing and our stance on it, but you’ve been provided with misinformation about this situation.
Like · Reply · February 13 at 1:50pm
If I and others are misinformed, why don’t they enlighten us?
Poor baby!! Declawing cats is already cruel, but to laugh about it is just…I honestly don’t have adequate words. It’s a totally unnecessary surgery that leaves the cat in mutilated and in pain. Someone explained it to me like this – imagine someone crudely removing part of your finger at the joint, leaving you in excruciating pain. Now imagine having a constant urge to yawn but you will never be able to no matter how much you try; multiply that feeling by 1,000. And to make matters worse, you have lost a primary defense mechanism leaving you vulnerable and pretty much defenseless. Don’t know if all that’s accurate, but the bottom line is declawing is cruel and so very wrong. I try to understand and respect other people’s opinions and perspectives, agree to disagree if you will, but I can’t understand how any sane person, especially a vet, can condone this practice and think it’s funny. Sorry for the rant, but I am strongly opposed to declawing and I believe it should be banned. Why would anyone ever do this to their pet?! Even if you don’t pamper your cat, why do this to a living, feeling being whose well being and health you are responsible for. If your precious furniture is so important that this kind of mutilation is even a consideration, don’t get a cat. It’s that simple. Get a pet rock. That’s more appropriate for your emotional bandwidth.
You would think a vet & (or anyone who assists them) would have a hell of a LOT more compassion & respect for these animals. I find it sickening this happened and I don’t consider it funny at ALL. It’s bad enough that they are doing this to “ANY” cat really. But, to make jokes about an animal they are in essence mutilating….IS DISGUSTING!!!!!
I am livid to the point I wish I could find the vet and vet techs and punch them in their throats,I am a former vet tech and believe me these cats suffer the most unimaginal pain,the last cat I assisted in declawing was the last for me because when the cat come out from being put under it was in so much pain it slammed itself against the kennel walls several times and broke it’s neck,the USA needs to ban this vile procedure like the UK did!
That is a terrible vision. That makes me feel sick. These bloody vets just don’t give a damn.
Oh that is just terrible, Irish! It must still haunt you and forever. Yes we have to get declawing made illegal worldwide.
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.
I just cleaned out 8 litter boxes and, all the while, thinking about this article.
R, please never stop fighting.
Truthfully, I had never heard of declawing until late in adulthood. Even then, I had the delusion that it was just about removing the claws. You have enlightened me and so many others.
Thank you for that.
I will never stop fighting this Dee, I promise you that!
If the name of this clinic can be unearthed this clinic and the names of the veterinarian AND assistant should be reported to the AVMA. While the wimpy AVMA has not taken a proactive stand against declawing domestic housecats, these “practitioners” should be sanctioned. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes in many of these clinics that routinely declaw.
I bet they laugh all the way to the banks with the money they are making. Shame Shame on them- may they rot in hell.
The clinic has been named all over face book, it’s no secret. The vet declawing the cat is Dr. Jill Colburn. Moonbrook Veterinary Hospital, Jamestown, New York but the intern’s name isn’t known.
Thanks Ruth for adding to it and clarifying.
To me it is the callousness of it. They just don’t have grasp on what they are doing.
Terrible, terrible pictures and awful heartless cruel comments, probably what we all suspected, but hoped, wasn’t happening, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, we know that people in certain jobs get desensitised to what they do, and to think that this callous disrespect and uncaring attitude goes on behind closed doors is bad enough, but then for these people to share pictures, and worse, comments such as these is shocking. “Ha ha”? My God what have these people got for hearts? Stones?
Yes the woman vet Jill who is doing the surgery threw the cats severed toe ends at the assistant who is the person who posted the photos and reckoned it was a good day.
Some one has said the cat in the cage isn’t the same cat, but if so, she has obviously been declawed too by her cringing in the corner. The comment ‘poor kitty ha ha’ shows the total disrespect the poster has for cats.
Here is another picture popped up today, not the same clinic but the same disrespect! Healthy toe ends kept as souvenirs and the ‘ha ha’
How can anyone trust any clinic that has vets who declaw?
The clinic’s facebook page has been deluged with comments and surprise surprise they have deactivated the page, but they can’t stop us emailing them!!!!
This sickening cruel surgery must be stopped.
American and Canadian cat lovers BOYCOTT declaw clinics if you possibly can, how can you possibly leave your cat where their fear and pain and disabling surgery is laughed at!
That poor cat in the corner brought tears to my eyes.
I can hardly bear it.
I lay awake for hours last night seeing that cringing cat in my mind, it seems the worst picture of the two because the other cat is unconscious, I can’t bear to think of her shock and pain when she woke up. I can hardly bear it either.
Thanks for updating that. I’ll make an adjustment. Actually, I can’t do it now because the title is hard to change at this stage. Never mind. The principle is still the same. I have added a note to the page to check out the comments.
Thanks for writing this article Michael, sorry I had no details for you until later, but apparently this sort of amusement at cats being declawed isn’t uncommon, so it doesn’t really matter about changing this, as it happens at more clinics.
It’s good to bring it to everyones notice, to warn people what goes on at some clinics where cats are mutilated by people who should never be in the veterinary profession at all.
Ruth, I purposely did not read this yesterday because of how infuriated I would get over it! I could spit literal nails right now — metal ones — at those effing idiots — and right in their eyes!!!! I am soooooo pissed!! I chose to read this after seeing your post on fb. There aren’t enough words in the English language to truly express how I feel about this. I wish someone would go chop their fingers off!!!! God will see that there is the proverbial hell to pay for this behavior!!!!! May God bless that little baby. . .
Thank you for being brave and reading it and commenting too Diane, it’s so truly upsetting and I hate to upset good people who already know how cruel declawing is and want it stopped. But we have to let everyone know this is happening.
Sometimes I feel I can’t bear it any more, yesterday I wanted to jump on a plane and fly across and kill those two worthless women, but it wouldn’t help even if I could as I’d end up in prison and be no more good to the cause!
Yes I hope Karma exists and all the evil vets who declaw get their just deserts and also the staff who assist at mutilating cats and laugh about it.
Agreed. It is the principle of it. That medics can mess around during the op. and laugh at it. It is quite unforgivable.
Too true and to laugh about a terrified cat cringing in the corner of the cage is inexcusable, what sort of monster can think that is funny.
I just want to take that cat out of there and comfort her.
I hope kitty’s owners are proud of themselves as well. All for the lack of a scratching post…. absurd.
Thanks Chris. Your comment has been published.
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.
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.
I think that the woman is the actual vet.
Either way, both need to be slapped to sleep for callousness and cruelty.
God help these innocent kitties.
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.
Thanks for contributing Diego.