Due to the severity of the injuries, the kittens were euthanized.

“This was nothing more than an extreme case of torture,” said Scott Giacoppo, a Washington Humane Society vice president, who called the case one of the most brutal he’s seen in 20 years of animal welfare work.

Cat declawing is a dangerous and controversial procedure even when performed by a trained veterinary surgeon, Giacoppo said. Cats’ claws are extensions of their foot bones, not soft tissue analogous to human nails.

Giacoppo declined to discuss details of the investigation — including how the maimed kittens were discovered or traced to Gaskin — while the prosecution is underway. “We protect our sources of information to the bitter end,” he said. “If we don’t, people will be less likely to report things.” He did confirm it wasn’t Gaskin who sought help for Beta and Gamma.

Gaskin’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment. He was released after a court hearing Saturday on the following condition: “Defendant may not own, possess, or maintain any domesticated animals.”

UPDATE, 5:45 P.M.: An affidavit filed by Humane Society investigator Daniel D’Eramo indicates it was Gaskins’ sister who took the kittens to the city animal shelter on May 7.

In an examination there, “the ends of the toes on all four paws of both kittens, including the dew claws, appeared to be scabbed over and caked with debris and kitty litter with no claws visible,” D’Eramo wrote. “Their injuries were consistent with an intent to amputate the digit.”

A surgeon who examined the kittens said the “appearance of the wounds suggest a ‘clipping’ instrument was applied over all the skin, digital pad and distal phalanx crushing the tissues and smashing the bones.”

“This would have been an extremely painful experience for the kittens, and they would have struggled to get away,” the surgeon said. “The pain would have continued as every step would have aggravated the traumatized tissues.”

Five days after the kittens were brought to the shelter, D’Eramo spoke with Gaskins at his home on Dubois Place SE in the Greenway neighborhood. Gaskins told him he’d gotten the kittens for his daughter about a week prior, buying them from a woman who “claimed that the kittens had already been de-clawed.” When D’Eramo visited the cats’ seller, she denied having de-clawed them and said Gaskins had told her he would have them de-clawed “because he didn’t want them tearing up his furniture.”

Court records show Gaskins, an Air Force veteran, has twice been convicted of assault charges in the past 10 years.

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For every bone amputation and piece of skin that is cut during declaw surgery, there is a wound site & opportunity for bleeding and hemorrhage.  Read about these actual declawing stories:

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"His routine de-clawing turned into a nightmare when his vet removed the stitches, Connelly reported.  "The cat was squirting blood," Heise said.  She watched in horror as the vet yanked out her cat's stitches.  "Without gloves -- without washing his hands -- without any instruments, he took and he ripped the cat's sutures out with his fingernails...The second veterinarian saved Samson's paws and possibly his life.  According to Heise, "it was a bad situation.  The infection had spread into his blood and into his soft tissue."
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2008/02/01/bad_vets.html

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"Monkey was released with bleeding front paws.  There were large areas of tissue missing and the pads were either cut or missing."
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf
?%2Fbase%2Fliving-0%2F1200216641105730.xml&coll=2

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"A friend had her indoor cat declawed even though she was reluctant to do so.  It was a terrible experience for both the cat and the family.  The poor cat bled profusely, made bloody footprints on the floor, slinging blood onto the wall.  Now her paws are infected and the vet is keeping her.
http://blogs.chron.com/animalqa/2009/07/
are_postdeclawing_infections_c.html

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"Declawing, when performed by laser, is still the amputation of the last toe bone of the cat and carries with it the same long-term risks of lameness and behavioral problems as does declawing with scalpels or clippers.  Studies have failed to show that laser declawing is less painful for the cat in the post-operative period.”  Humane Society Veterinary Medical Assoc Cosmetic & Convenience Surgeries Position Statements

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"I had Roscoe and Jaspurr laser declawed about two months ago and it has been nothing but pain and suffering for them.  I chose to do it with the laser because the vet said 'it was less bleeding, less painful, and less swelling.’  What she did not tell me is about all the complications that go along with the surgery.”  Lisa Violet's Declaw Horror Stories

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"Complications (bleeding, limping, swelling, infection) were generally worse in the laser onychectomy group in the first 2 days after surgery but were equivalent thereafter.”  My Vet Said Laser Was Better, Dr.  Jennifer Conrad, DVM, The Paw Project

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"...she jerked her body, meowed at me twice while looking into my eyes and then she died.  Laser Surgery was not better...the decision to get her declawed is the worst decision I have ever made; it took a life, my Tazzy's life.  I will not be able to get past this, what I have done; the torture my baby went through.  Cat Dies from Infection After Laser Declaw Surgery

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"No matter how the claws are removed, a cat without claws is missing part of his toes and has to go through life without being able to perform one of the most enjoyable and beneficial parts of being a cat: scratching - with claws.  The whole basis of scratching; the aspect that provides the refreshing workout and exercise, is pulling against the resistance of dug-in claws".  Gary Lowenthal, author of "Why Cats Need Claws" from Is Laser Declaw Better?

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I said she is 13, is she too old?  Thinking they would say yes of course but they said no we do this all the time for older people who are taking their cats to a nursing home and have to have the cats declawed.  I hung up and called 3 more vets, they said the same thing, one even told me about the new Laser declaw, I had never heard of it, they said it was less painful, fast recovery time, etc.  I then talked to my husband and we decided to spend the extra to get the Laser.  We took Tazzy in on November 2nd, 2008, left her there to be declawed, I was told to bring her in the morning no food past 6 pm the past day, still by 3:30 pm she still was not in surgery, I was worried she was hungry.  They got her in surgery and called to say everything went well and I could pick her up in the morning.  She looked the same, was eating as soon as I got her home, no bandages on her feet.  I used the special litter in the big litter box that Tazzy and my other cat shared.  I thought I would just keep an eye on Tazzy's paws. 

Now fast forward to Nov 20th, at night Tazzy slept in my son's bed, he told me something wet was on her and turned on the lights, her paw was bleeding, I cleaned it and everything up, and the next morning called the vet, my husband took her to the vet.  He said they cleaned her paw, said we need to use the right litter, and never mentioned weight loss or an infection.  Also her meow was so low, almost gone, and they said that was from the tube from the surgery being down her throat, this was 19 days after the surgery but I believed them.  They bandaged her paw up; she had the bandage off within 1 day.  Within the next few days I was questioning if she was eating, I saw her by the water bowl every day and she seemed to be herself, sleeping in the sun, in my son's bed, using the litterbox.  My son said he saw her eat the one day but I said I haven't and then I would hear her going down the stairs at night and figured she was eating.  Then there was two times my husband and I found her in our bathtubs, she for some reason was laying in them. 

Her breath got really stinky and she looked so bad.  We saw that her thumb paw was big, this is the first time I seen the swelling, I had been looking at her paws but the thumb paw I must have not looked at it, just the four fingers, I saw it was big and saw a little hard piece of something and pulled at it (I don't know if was glue or litter) then a big blood rush came out, black blood, I flipped out and then blood clots came out and I was so scared, I kissed her and called the vet and said can I bring her right now, I took her in and they said she had a bad infection, they got the pills and I said can you give her an injection and they said yes and they kept her all day and gave her fluids and force fed her.  I picked her up that evening which was Nov 26th Wednesday, They wanted to keep her over night, but with Thanksgiving they couldn't.  So they told me to force feed her.  She looked so much healthier that day and the next.  We fed her every 4 hours and on Friday we were taking her in again for a checkup.  I told them she had diarrhea they gave me a medicine for it and said she looked so much better. 

Then that Friday night it seemed a little harder for us to feed her, by Saturday even harder, I then gave her the meds for diarrhea Saturday.  Saturday night she looked so bad again just like before, we knew she was going to die, Sunday morning I got up and checked on her she was sleeping, 10 minutes later I went over and picked her up and called to my husband, my other cat came over sniffed her and then starting howling, within minutes she jerked her body, meowed at me twice while looking into my eyes and then she died. 

It’s been over 3 months and I am so much worse off than I was before, I am dreaming of her, I have so much guilt for what I have done.  I lost my baby, she would have been 14 this April, she was still playful, she loved us, she counted on us to take care of her and I let her down, over some stupid furniture that now I have been wanting to burn, Material things are nothing, my cat was my life and I took it for granted.  Laser Surgery was not better, yes I made mistakes, not seeing the signs, and that is part of my guilt, but the decision to get her declawed is the worst decision I have ever made, it took a life, my Tazzy's life.  I will not be able to get past this, what I have done; the torture my baby went through.  DON'T EVER DECLAW, I would do anything to have her damaging my couches right now, I would let her tear my house down to have her right now, and I hate myself for what I have done.  Learn from my story PLEASE REMEMBER MY STORY FOR OTHERS."
http://declawhallofshame.com/

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