Canadian vets are finally coming around to the idea that declawing cats is unnecessary and cruel. Why the delay, doctors? Some high profile veterinarians are leading the way in the slow process of phasing it out. Yes, it is slow, but at least it is a beginning. A start is desperately overdue because we are told that 95% of cat owners in Canada have their cats declawed. A staggering statistic. Update: the 95% figure may relate to the number of people who declaw for the reason that they want to protect furniture, there being other reasons. The figure may not be 95% of all Canadians declaw. Sorry but the source material was unclear.
I am very pleased to read that “hundreds of Canadian clinics” are turning their backs on declawing (source: CTV News)
I’ll recite some nice quotes from the CTV website in the hope that they won’t mind in the interests of cat welfare:
“The tides are changing, but it takes time,” (Dr. Tracy Cornish – Victoria veterinarian and council president of the College of Veterinarians of B.C)
People love their kitty cats and when we talk to them about what this really is – amputating their feet – they think about it differently,” (Dr. Marco Veenis, president of the Society of B.C. Veterinarians and owner of B.C.’s Okanagan Veterinary Hospital).
Good on you doc. We love to hear a veterinarian say these things and it supports what I have always said and mentioned recently that vets can and should lead the way in consigning cat declawing to the trash can of operations that are now seen as a big mistake in the history of veterinary surgery. Over time, I say a vet can make more money from healthy claws than he can by amputating their feet.
Vets have a duty to educate cat owners in good cat caretaking in the hope that they will reject declawing. This ignores the fact that declawing is in breach of their standards and fundamental principles.
There are still some shocking things going on. For example, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) advises their members to inform clients about the negative aspects of declawing but leaves it up to the individual vet to decide whether to do the operation or not. Wouldn’t it be easier and more ethical if the CVMA banned the bloody operation? No, of course not, that would be far too simple and straightforward. At least the CVMA admits the operation causes pain.
Anyway, I think it is worth posting this information. It is good to read about vets who are actually seeing the light.
There are over 150 pages on declawing on PoC. You can see some links to pages by clicking on this link. It opens up a new tab or page.
That is good news and now the US must follow as it is obvious that their vets are continuing to declaw cats while knowing full well it is cruel.
It’s about time the tide was turning!
There is no way that any veterinarian, a person surely taught about the anatomy of a cat as part of their training, can’t know that declawing is cruel and disabling.
Yes 95% of declawings are done to protect furniture and it’s absolutely disgraceful that inanimate replaceable furniture is more important to those people than their cat’s health and welfare!
Let’s hope the American vets soon admit too that declawing is unnecessary and cruel because they do know for sure that it is.
Surely it can’t be 95% of people have their cats declawed in Canada! The statistic I have read for USA was that 25% of pet cats are declawed. I doubt it would be so much higher in Canada than the U.S.
So I’m interpreting it as meaning that of the people who have declawed cats, 95% said it was to stop them scratching the furniture.
But I agree it is phrased in a confusing way.
I hope it is really true the tide is turning.
I thought you’d say that 😉 lol. I think the journalist was just unclear in that sentence.
I thought it was 95% of people’s reason to declaw is fear of scratching furniture. The actual sentence on the site reads:
“An estimated 95 per cent of cat owners choose to declaw their animal to stop unwanted furniture scratching.”
My reading of it is, as I state, namely that 95% of people declaw their cats and the reason for this is to stop their furniture being scratched.
I understand where you are coming from but do you agree with my interpretation or that an unknown percentage declaw their cats but the reason for declawing in 95% of the cases is to stop furniture being scratched.
I think I have the correct interpretation 😉
It isn’t clear, but what is clear is that it’s impossible that almost all cats with homes are declawed. Most of them aren’t. Some of them are. That’s why I think it’s 95% of the reason.
Agreed. You win 😉
I’m confused now with the language part. I agree with you when you say “an unknown percentage declaw their cats but the reason for declawing in 95% of the cases is to stop furniture being scratched.”