Sammy’s declaw surgery was botched, leaving him in pain, with bone or nail fragments left inside his partially amputated toes. His family then dumped him at the shelter but he is now being helped by advocates who want to relieve his discomfort by getting him surgery and find him a good, loving home.
The Paw Project-Utah’s branch director, Dr. Kirsten Doub of Union Park Veterinary Hospital in Cottonwood Heights, UT is advocating for Sammy and has found a surgeon in Minnesota who can help.
Sammy and his story were on the local news Sunday night. The Paw Project wrote at Facebook: “Dr. Doub [discusses in the report, seen below] why Sammy is a sentinel for declawed cats nationwide. Mutilated and then dumped. Evidence first hand that declawing does not save lives and keep cats out of the shelter. Instead, it ruins lives and subjects them to unnecessary pain. Sammy found himself homeless even after his owners changed him forever to meet THIER needs.”
Sammy is at the Utah Humane Society in Murry, near West Valley City, and slightly south of SLC.
The Paw Project said at Facebook on March 21: “If someone will foster/adopt him, Dr. Conrad and Dr. Doub of Union Park Veterinary Hospital have offered to get him set up with food and pain meds…he just needs someone to step forward and offer him a roof over his head…” and explained why Sammy’s advocates are raising money to have him see a surgeon so far from Utah, saying “Very few veterinary surgeons have experience performing reparative paw surgery. One of the best is Dr. Ron Gaskin in MN. That is where Sammy is going.”
The Paw Project Utah is raising funds to help Sammey get his surgery, and is also sharing his story to raise awareness with the remaining segment of the population who doe not view declawing as cruel.
Sammy is a 6 year old, very fluffy black cat who has been at the shelter since January 30 after his botched declawing by a Utah vet.
“[Declawing is] something that we can easily add on to a spay or neuter procedure, so it’s unfortunately very, very common here,” Dr. Doub told the Channel 13 news crew that produced the story on Sammy, adding that she thinks a lot of pet owners in Utah, where the procedure is legal, do not understand what is being done to their cats.
“I have heard it being referred to as a permanent nail trim by some veterinarians,” Doub said. “I think if we start referring to it as an amputation then I think a lot of owners will think twice about signing their cats up for it.”
Sammy’s x-rays clearly show his now-deformed partially amputated toes and the fragments that are increasing his pain.
Dr. Doub said without the reparative surgery, Sammy would face, “A life full of pain, discomfort, and aggression because he is a little big aggressive when you try to palpate his feet.”
Paw Project Utah is accepting donations for Sammy at their website. Donations should include the note, “Saving Sammy.”
Watch the channel 13 report. Below that, see posts about Sammy from the Paw Project’s Facebook page:
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