Here is yet another veterinarian, who happens to be an AAHA vet and 43 year member AVMA vet, who in my opinion, doesn’t care what the truth is about declawing.
Here is the link to the TV interview on WSBT 22 TV. Go to the 50 second mark for the declawing segment. [button href=”http://wsbt.com/news/local/ask-a-vet-is-declawing-humane”] WSBT 22 Declawing interview[/button]
Here is the transcript of this short TV interview with Dr Rick Nelson and WSBT 22 TV in South Bend, Indiana
WSBT 22 Interviewer; Our next question is from Larry, he writes, “My wife wants to get our cat declawed but I heard it’s inhumane”, is it safe to do this or should we leave it as it is?
Dr Nelson; Big discussion I’ll give you a kind of just a thumbprint of both sides some people consider it amputation & you’ll hear all kinds of extreme descriptions of it that are completely wrong & then there are other people that say ahh it’s just like trimming their nails, that’s wrong too.
Not every cat should be declawed but a lot of them have to be because they’re indoor cats & the older people don’t want to be scratched & the don’t want their house ruined & things like this. I’m Just gonna say discuss it with your veterinarian, he or she is the expert in it. There is some discomfort but it’s fairly brief, but not every cat, unless they’re having a problem should be declawed either
Interviewer; Especially if your cat goes outside at all, it takes away some defenses.
Dr Nelson; Even declawed cats can climb trees & things like this but does take away on their defense, just don’t let them outside.
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Information from Dr Rick Nelson’s AAHA hospital’s website on Feb 6, 2018
When cat owners call Animal Aid Clinic South to ask for the price of a spay the employees ask if you want a declaw with that. They say a spay/declaw is $335 and for $20 extra (it’s optional) you can get take home pain meds. They ask if you want the two paw or four paw declaw and say that they leave it up to the cat owner. They say that they do declaws all the time. Not once did they mention the humane alternatives. They say that your kitty will be a little iffy about putting weight on their paws for a few weeks but like any surgery it takes time to recover. Animal Aid Clinic South has kitten wellness packages for around $150 a month for 4 months of payments. You can add a 2 paw or 4 paw declaw to a Kitten Wellness package and say they leave it up to the cat owner as to which one. The 4 paw declaw add on is around $200 a month.
Here is a page from their website where they talk about declaws on their kitten wellness page.
Dr Rick Nelson’s AAHA website says this about him , “He became board certified in veterinary practice (ABVP) in 1986, which has helped the Animal Aid Clinic South to stay current on the continuously moving target which is modern veterinary medicine. He developed and grew the surgical aspect of the practice, with a focus on orthopedic surgery. All doctors have focused on maintaining a positive atmosphere and high quality of care for our patients and their owners.”
Another veterinarian that WSBT-TV uses on their Ask a Vet show is Dr Samantha Dawson who also works at Animal Aid Clinic South. An employee at the clinic said that they have 5 vets who do declaws, and that 2 of them do them do them daily, Dr Dawson and Dr Kieszkowsky,
Another veterinarian that WSBT-TV uses on their Ask a Vet show is Dr John Longenbaugh who is the owner of Maplecrest Animal Hospital in Indana which is also an AAHA hospital.
When cat owners call Maplecrest Animal Hospital for the price of a spay, they ask if you are also interested in a declaw. Price for a declaw is $298 and pain meds are optional for $30. They say they do declaws all the time. No humane alternatives mentioned and they say there are no long term negative problems
Another veterinarian that WSBT-TV uses on their show is Dr Sara Granberg from Middlebury Animal Clinic. When a cat owner calls for the price of a spay and asks what else do they recommend to have do with the procedure, they say that you can do a declaw at that age also. They say that they do declaws often. A vet tech from this clinic said that the method that they use is the clippers. She said they used to use a laser but that the procedure took longer to perform and the cat had to be under anesthesia longer and there wasn’t less bleeding so it wasn’t worth it. When asked if there are any negative long-term consequences to declawing, the vet tech said that in less than 1% of cats there can be phantom pain but that happens more in the older cats that are declawed. She said that usually after a month the cat will be back to normal but in the older cats it might take longer.
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PLEASE REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BE RESPECTFUL AND TAKE THE HIGH ROAD WITH YOUR COMMENTS. WE MUST RESPECTFULLY EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE FACTS ABOUT DECLAWING.
WHEN YOU ARE DISRESPECTFUL AND THREATENING IT HURTS THE CA– USE, IT’S WRONG, AND IT HURTS ME BECA– USE THEY WILL BLAME YOUR DISRESPECTFUL WORDS ON ME.
Please sign my petition to AAHA [button href=”https://www.change.org/p/american-animal-hospital-association-stop-declawing-at-your-hospitals” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] AAHA Petition[/button]
Please sign my petition to the AVMA- [button href=”https://www.change.org/p/avma-make-declawing-below-the-standard-of-care” newwindow=”yes”] AVMA petition[/button]
Please send a respectful email asking for them to interview a no-declaw vet who will educate the public about the FACTS about declwing to WSBT 22 Fox TV at [email protected] or post them on our WSBT 22 Facebook page. Here is the link to their facebook page [button href=”https://www.facebook.com/WSBTNews/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] WSBT 22 facebook page[/button]