During my second week at Mt. Diablo Veterinary Medical Center, I had the pleasure of watching a cat get declawed. When I arrived at the vet, the declawing was in process. I was told to put on protective glasses, and later discovered it was because of the laser they use to separate the claw from the cats foot. I will describe what I saw and smelled because it made me feel uncomfortable and caused me to question the intentions of the veterinarians. The first thing I noticed was the smell of burning hair and skin too I guess. The head Veterinarian was using the heat of a laser to essentially burn through the skin of the cat. There was a girl there who was shadowing like me, only she was allowed to help and do things. I asked her why they couldn't just clip the nail like they do for dogs, to which she said that declawing a cat was like removing our finger from the second knuckle. That was when I began to feel uncomfortable. The cats paws were bloody, and I felt so bad for the cat. After the nails were removed Dr. Hagler (the main veterinarian) stitched up the paw where the nails were and then put on a little boot. Shortly after one of the Veterinarians noticed that the fluid bag was empty and that the cat had much more water than it should have. The intern girl that had told me about the claws, had walked away from the bag instead of monitoring it, and now the cat had a huge layer of water under its skin. Apparently this didn't pose too many health risks thankfully. I know that the veterinarians were just doing their job, but I still feel badly for the cat and that what they did was borderline animal cruelty. The cats are given ketamine to knock them out and as a painkiller too I guess. When the cats wake up from their procedure they sway their heads around in a very weird way and look very out of it and delirious. Dr. Hagler said it's the ketamine that makes them do it. Below I'll include a picture of the cat that had just been declawed, right after he woke up. His name is Mr. Chow. Another patient that came into the vet was a dog with an ear ache or ear infection. I got to look at the cells taken from the inside of the dogs ear under a microscope (image below). I like using the microscope because I feel like a scientist, although I can't distinguish between the different things I see under the microscope. It's also very hard to take pictures through the microscope lens, but the pictures always look so cool, when they are good quality. Every time I am at the vet, there is usually a decent amount of time where there are no surgeries going on and the veterinarians are doing paper work or looking through different files. This is my least favorite part about going to the vet because time goes by very slowly and I am usually standing awkwardly by one of the veterinarians reading one of the books in the book shelf, not understanding most of what I am reading. Occasionally I'll see words or diagrams I recognize from Psych, Bio, or House (the doctor TV show I'm currently very into), and feel like I'm ready to be on my way to med school, not actually, but it's still nice for the momentary second of understanding. During one of the breaks in action I looked at an X-Ray with Dr. Hagler. He told me the different parts of the dog, that were obvious and pointed out the little white line on the top of the dogs neck (a microchip). I can't quite remember what type of dog it is, but I'm guessing wiener dog because its small and fat. On Friday a dog came in for a check up, I think, and she had little pink bows in her hair and I thought it was really cute. This is her below with Edward, or Edwardo, as Dr. Hagler calls him. He's a little shy or maybe a tiny bit socially awkward, but is very nice. It is interesting how some animals are very comfortable with the Veterinarians and how some are not at all. Kim (one of the Veterinarians), said once "I love my job, but how many animals do you think look forward to seeing me again". I think that most of what the Veterinarians do is necessary, but the animals act distressed because they are in distress. Now maybe sometimes the animal is just having a little tantrum or is not very well mannered, but I don't think that the animals pain and discomfort should be dismissed and treated with punishment. I don't know what a solution for this would be, but if an animal is acting like it is in pain, it probably is, and I personally don't think animals should be put in pain if there is a way to treat or help them without it. Regardless, I really think the veterinarians have the best interest of the animal at heart most of the time at least.
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AuthorMy name is Emily Burch. I am a student in the WISE program at Miramonte. This is my WISE journey (I think that's a good word for it). Archives
May 2015
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