Story published June 2016
Bruce Kornreich is now the Director of Cornell’s Feline Health Center. 2020 Update.
UPDATE 2017, Cornell Small Animal Hospital stopped declawing.
I’m shocked and appalled at Bruce Kornreich, the Ass. Director of the Cornell Feline Health Center’s comment about declawing in this 2016 news story.
Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Ithaca Voice,
Bruce Kornreich, the associate director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, said that declawing is a legitimate medical procedure that should be used as a last resort for destructive cats.
“Declawing shouldn’t be the first or even the second option, but it is the best option if everything else has been tried,” said Kornreich. He noted that veterinarians have a professional duty to educate pet owners about non-surgical alternatives to managing cats’ scratching behaviors, some of which are offered by the SPCA of Tompkins County.
Though he declined to comment on the pending legislation, Kornreich pushed back against activists’ claim that declawing is painful and unsafe.
“It might cause some degree of discomfort, but that is expected of all surgical procedures,” said Kornreich. He said that the vast majority of declawed cats recover from post-operative complications.
Full story Story
“Declawing MIGHT CAUSE SOME DEGREE OF DISCOMFORT but that is expected of all surgical procedures.” Bruce Kornreich Cornell Feline Health Center Associate Director.
Of course he declined to comment on the pending legislation.
Do you remember back in 2007 on what Cornell told the lawyer in charge of deciding where Rhoda A Hogan’s $125,000 bequest should go after they put out a slick and impressive proposal about how they were going to honor Mrs Hogan’s wishes?
“An organization to be used to publicize and educate the public about the cruel effect of de-clawing cats and to support legislation forbidding it,” Rhoda Hogan
This is what Cornell said to Mrs Hogan’s lawyer so that they would win this bequest over two other organizations that would have supported legislation to end declawing AND worked really really hard to help end it.
In a proposal letter dated January 3, 2007 addressed to Attorney Fred Hall, the Cornell Feline Health Center stated: “Legislation that would forbid declawing is unlikely to become a reality but we’ve discovered that, with proper training, cats rarely require the procedure.”
“Should the Center be a recipient of Ms. Hogan’s estate, we will use a portion to create an online educational video that discusses destructive scratching and ways to prevent it. Web-based videos have the potential to reach tens of thousands of cat owners yearly, and if the methods to be described in the video are utilized, hundreds of thousands of cats are likely to avoid declawing.”
Do you know what causes a big degree of discomfort Bruce Kornreich?
The fact that your organization took Rhoda A Hogan’s $125,000 bequest in 2007 and only made 6 short videos that cost around $200 to make. I asked Cornell’s communication director if she could tell me if they did more educational material so that I could share it to my thousands of followers to help do what Rhoda Hogan wanted and spread awareness about declawing but Cornell didn’t want to give up that top secret information. She said they would be happy to tell “the estate” but the estate is closed and Mrs Hogan has no family left.
You know what causes a big degree of discomfort Mr Kornreich? The fact that Cornell was not committed to ending declawing by already having a defeatist attitude about legislation that would end declawing in your statement in 2007 to Mrs Hogan’s lawyer, “Legislation that would forbid declawing is unlikely to become a reality but we’ve discovered that, with proper training, cats rarely require the procedure.”
Mr Kornreich, cats NEVER require the procedure but the sad fact is that 25-40% of cats in America are declawed and that’s around 2 million cats!
You know what causes a big degree of discomfort Bruce is that your former veterinarian, J Korich said she used Mrs Hogan’s $100,000 bequest for a “study” about scratching behavior in cats. As it turns out, it wasn’t a “study” and was just those 6 short videos of common knowledge that your cat behaviorist put together and was paid a few hundred dollars for writing the material in them and starring in them. Why are you hiding what you did with Mrs Hogan’s money? 
UPDATE. CORNELL’S ANIMAL HOSPITAL STOPPED DECLAWING CATS IN 2017.
You know what causes a big degree of discomfort is knowing that when a cat owner calls up your animal hospital in June of 2016, to get their cat declawed and ask will your cat be ok after having its toes amputated by Dr McConkey, the head of the “soft tissue service” , they tell you that she is a board certified doctor and is really good at that procedure. They tell you that you have to book an exam first that is included in the $515 price for the declaw and it is to check if your cat is healthy enough for the amputation surgery and the only times the declaw wouldn’t be done would be if your cat has a skin infection or something like a cardio issue.
Cornell employees that make the appointments for cat owners say that they use the laser and there wasn’t one mention of humane alternatives or that declawing isn’t good for a cat when the cat owners ask if their cats will be ok from the amputations. They just say that your cat will have a 2 night stay and that’s included in the $515.
If you want to be shocked and appalled at what happened to Rhoda A Hogan’s large gift please read this story. Cornell’s Big FU to Rhoda Hogan’s bequest
You know if this had to do with anything other than cats, it would be on 60 minutes or the front page of the New York Times.
Then it just might give Cornell “some degree of discomfort.”
Here is their soft tissue expert and the first service offered is the toe amputations. 