Photo from Instagram.
There is a post from a veterinarian on the AVMA’s facebook page that is causing a big uproar and it’s all about standards, ethics, and poor medical care.
The topic is non-anesthesia dental cleaning.
The veterinarians who are fuming about this issue use these comments about it. And I agree with them…
Non-anesthesia dental cleaning is…A disservice to the profession and pets, horrifying, below the standard of care and potentially harmful to pets, sub-par medical practice, dangerous, an embarrassment to the profession, unethical, practice evidence based quality medicine, practices such as these diminish the dignity of the DVM, disgraceful, ignoring the scientific evidence, code of ethics, we went to vet school we follow an Honor Code, it’s substandard companion animal veterinary care, more harmful in all ways than beneficial.
Hmmmmm. They could say the exact same thing about declawing but guess what, they aren’t.
As you know, I’m very curious, so I did a little detective work and found that these same veterinarians who are upset and speaking out against this, are very hypocritical and have appalling double standards.
Here’s the reason why.
Most of them declaw cats with NO counseling and are NOT following the AVMA’s last resort declawing position. This is a sad example as to how many pro-declaw vets pick and choose their standards.
Many of these upset veterinarians offer kitten declaw packages, some do 4 paw, some write about how great their lasers are for declaws in their blogs with appalling words about their laser declaws like this, “We have operated on cats as young as three months of age, and as old as 14 years, all with wonderful outcomes.”
A “wonderful outcome” in amputating CAT$ TOE$ ? In their bank accounts maybe, but never for a cat.
So they adhere to veterinary standards when it is convenient and not across the board. They let their client’s needs (cat owners) dictate standards and procedures. Most pro-declaw vets do NOT follow the AVMA’s last resort position on declawing.
The FACTS are that dental cleanings with anesthesia is a very common and lucrative procedure. The FACTS are that declawing is also common procedure that brings in a lot of income for many of these vets.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones as the saying goes.
Footnote- Ironically the ONLY practice that DOES follow the AVMA’s last resort position and offers counseling against declawing is this doctor they are upset about, Dr John DeJong, Chair of the AVMA Board of Directors. Thankfully, his office said that declawing should be a last resort and that you should use soft paws or find a cat behaviorist to deal with scratching issues instead of doing this “very painful and bad surgery.” They said that declaw surgeries require heavy meds, requires the cat to be in the hospital sometimes for 4-5 days, and they often have bad behavioral issues after the declaws.
Here is the post from the AVMA’s Facebook page..
Here are some of the many comments on this post from these vets about this DENTAL procedure. Most of these vets do not follow the AVMA’s last resort position on declawing.
HERE IS A POST ON A BLOG FROM ONE OF THESE VETS WHO SAYS NON-ANESTHESIA DENTAL CLEANINGS ARE A DISSERVICE TO THE PROFESSION AND TO THE PATIENTS. HMMMM, I’D SAY AMPUTATING A CAT’S TOES WITH A LASER IS A HUGE DISSERVICE TO A CAT.
ANOTHER BLOG POST-
Disclaimer- This post was not done to “advocate” or support Dr. DeJong because he follows the last resort declawing position. It was to shine light on the fact that most pro-declaw veterinarians have double standards when it comes to procedures they feel are unethical and below the standard of care for veterinary medicine. Declawing is a mutilating and very harmful surgery to cats yet most pro-declaw vets are choosing to not acknowledge this fact and are declawing as a first option, with no counseling clients on the humane alternatives or how bad it is to do to a cat. Greed over the welfare of cats is why they are doing this and also it is just easier for them to acquiesce to their clients and amputate kitty’s toes and claws.