Many AVMA Vets Declaw Cats And Give NO Pain Meds. Here are two examples.
This vet, Dr Donald St Ledger, a 40 yr American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) member vet, who went to University of Illinois has been and is STILL declawing cats of any age on 2 and 4 paws and NOT USING ANY PAIN MEDS at Albion Veterinary Clinic in Illinois.
Mr Lee, a cat lover, asked Cornell why they won’t support the anti-declawing legislation in NY
I believe that you could be a leader here if you wanted to. One day, declawing will be illegal in NYS and you’ll probably share in the celebration saying that Cornell has always been against declawing.
But really, have you?
Declawing A Cat, Dog, or Kinkajou is ALWAYS an Amputation Surgery
A supporter sent me this picture that a kinkajou owner posted on facebook. The owner said in a comment that she had her kinkajou 4 paw declawed because, “the declawing allows us to give them (she had another kinkajou named Mazy declawed) more freedom in the home. She said that her mom is on blood thinners and the kinkajou would “inadvertently” claw her. She said that her mom would , “help me bathe her, clip her nails or even play with her and she’d get cut up and bleed.”
This owner also said, “only his nails were lasered off. His toes are intact,” in a comment on facebook.
Let’s Hope For A Future Where ALL Veterinarians Will Be Like This One
“What it boiled down to for me was I wanted to spend my time focusing on helping our animal companions feel their best and live the longest and healthiest life possible. Those type of procedures fall outside of the scope of what I wanted to achieve with my professional career when everything is said and done and I retire from medicine.”
Declawing A Cat Is NOT “Cat Friendly”
An American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Cat Friendly Practice, recently posted a video on facebook of a ragdoll kitten that was just declawed and said he is doing “great” after having his toes amputated. Here is a screenshot of the video that was posted on June 15, 2017.
This vet has declawing info on her website that says, “The declaw procedure is a surgical removal of the claw. Contrary to rumors and misinformed sources, declawing is not the removal of any of the actual toe itself, just the claw.”
This is a complete lie.
We Must Educate The Old School Veterinarians About Declawing
June 2017 I’ve come to the conclusion that we are the ones who need to educate the old school vets about the truth and facts about declawing. The younger vets that are deceiving cat owners about the facts about declawing, most likely know the truth but don’t want to lose the income from amputating cat […]
I Use My Authority To Abuse And Harm Cats
“As a veterinarian what I am not thrilled with is the legislature wanting to insert itself into my professional capacity. I am the one who is the authority, I have gone through the classes, I have had the instruction, I spent eight years of my life becoming very educated about these things. I think it comes down to being involved in the details of the procedure and knowing the situation in which you apply the procedure,” says Dr Chris Brockett, 2014 President of the NYSVMS, speaking about the anti-declawing bill in NY in this news video.
Declawing Ban Saves Cats Lives
In addition, statistics from the Los Angeles Animal Service Department indicate that there was no significant change in absolute numbers of cats adopted from our city shelters in the five years after the declaw ban as compared to five years prior to ban. Furthermore, as a ratio of cat intake, the adoption rate has gone actually increased. I can confidently state that the declaw ban did NOT have a negative effect on cat adoption in Los Angleles city shelters.
My vet, friends, and family started recommending that I look into getting them declawed
They also taught me that contrary to popular belief, cats CAN be trained to used appropriate scratching posts and that declawing is 100% unnecessary.
Lastly, and most importantly, they taught me that saving a couch, drapes, and carpet can never replace saving a life…..the life of a cat whose chances of making it out of a shelter alive drastically decreases if it doesn’t have claws on its paws.
It is time to make a change
My decision to stop doing this surgery now is that other veterinarians will hopefully follow the new position statement from CVMA and stop declawing cats. As fewer and fewer veterinarians perform this procedure there is less of a concern that clients will go somewhere else and less concern that the surgery is not being done properly with the appropriate pain control.
The demand for this procedure comes from the public, and veterinarians should not be the only ones at fault . Cat owners need to stop asking us to do this procedure and we need say no and provide alternatives.