Dr. Jennifer Conrad, a veterinarian and Director of The Paw Project, which educates the public about the harmful effects of feline declawing

Dr. Jennifer Conrad, a veterinarian and Director of The Paw Project–an organization that seeks to educate the public about the harmful effects of feline declawing, to end the practice of the declaw surgery, and to rehabilitate big cats that have been declawed–discusses the declaw surgery, making it clear that it actually involves amputating parts of the cat’s toes. (The Paw Project recently issued a 34-second video that addresses the fuzzy understanding many people have about declawing cats.) 

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She also addresses the reasons people typically have the declaw procedure performed on their cats–and the ill effects on the cat and its behavior–and the array of alternatives to it. Dr. Conrad touches on the way veterinarians–and key veterinarian associations–tend to be in favor of the declaw surgery, and that many freely admit performing the procedure is a cash cow. She notes the separate but perhaps equal issue of big cats being declawed, and that part of The Paw Project’s mission is to perform reparative surgery on those declawed cats; she was about to do her 76th surgery. There was also discussion of how many countries in Europe and elsewhere that have outlawed the declaw surgery. (www.pawproject.org)

ALSO: We spoke briefly with Marti Ryan, of Hillsborough County Department of Animal Service, about the forthcoming PAWfect Valentine event and some of the Department’s other imminent events. (www.hillsboroughcounty.org/animalservices/)

COMEDY CORNER: Steve Martin’s “Cat Handcuffs” (www.SteveMartin.com)

MUSIC:Mike Doughty’s “Year Of The Dog,” Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard’s “Good Old Pig, Gone To Avalon,” My Morning Jacket’s “Cobra,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut”