For The First Time, All The Vet Heroes Are ALL Cat Heroes!
I’m happy to do this story about the American Humane Hero Vet Awards 2017 Contest!
For the first time, all the vet heroes are all cat heroes and none of them perform the inhumane, cruel, and unnecessary procedure of declawing.
They are true animal advocates in every way and they think of the animal’s needs first! Let’s all thank them and celebrate what they do to heal and help animals and vote for your favorite one!
I reached out to each of the finalist vets and asked them if they would give me a paragraph about their stance on declawing. All of their statements are listed in this story.
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.
I Was Bullied For Not Declawing A 7 Year old Cat
Dear City, So my story goes like this… In 2015, I declined to perform a declaw on a 7 year old cat. The husband and wife wanted me to declaw their cat who they were afraid would jump into their newborn babies crib and scratch it. She was still pregnant and they didn’t want to […]
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.
Clairabelle, the declawed kitty who is suffering from her amputations
In 2015 I adopted a 5 year old calico that was front paw declawed. She was declawed with her spay surgery.
I was told that she is a pure breed straight ear Scottish fold.
I picked her up in a freak snowstorm at 4 am because her former owner was leaving on vacation and would be dropping her at the vet for euthanasia if I couldn’t get her that morning. They said she was having cat pan issues. I was certain I could help her and I fell in love with the pictures they sent me of her. I’m happy to say that we never had any pan issues.
She is getting older and I noticed that her right leg was sensitive sometimes after she would jump down off the furniture. Lately, she is limping most of the time. I can feel a pointed piece of what I think is bone in her sore toe.
She is a love bug but when she is hurting she will gently bite my hand while I’m checking her feet. I love her dearly and I know she was destined to be my baby for the remainder of her days
I Think I Would Know If My Cats Toes Were Gone
This veterinary practice in Oklahoma uses a guillotine clipper for their declaws and says that they, “cut off the nail and nail bed then use surgical glue to close the incision.”
They charge $69 for a 2 paw declaw and $97 for a 4 paw declaw.
When a cat owner asks them if there are any negative consequences to declawing or if there will be complications they say, “typically not, we do them frequently with no problems.”
Two Declawed Cats, Zachary and Maximilian
A frequent justification for declawing is that the cat would otherwise be banished from the home and that the procedure is a small price to pay for the kitty to live out its life in a safe and nurturing environment.
Sounds good, but it’s complete BUNK! Anyone who would subject their cat to the pain, disfigurement, and lifetime of misery resulting from a declaw procedure would discard them without a second thought.
4 Myths to Debunk Before You Consider Declawing Your Cat
As one of the many veterinarians who refuses to perform declawing surgery, I feel that I’ve heard all the excuses under the sun as to why cats should be declawed. Or, at least, what people thought they knew about declawing. Many people are shocked to learn how awful declawing actually is, and wonder why it was the norm for so long.
West Virginia, Please Ban Declawing And Save Cats From This Cruelty
Quote from West Virginia pro-declaw veterinarians, “You are right when you state there are those who would like to make declawing illegal. Many of those opinions have been formed by misinformation and what I call “internet-hype.” When performed properly, the declaw procedure results in no harmful side effects. In our experience, the cats have no higher incidence of any behavioral problems, which is in direct contrast to some of the fabrications that are now circulating. “