As a person who detests the declawing of cats I am very pleased to see that the Regina Cat Rescue, Saskatchewan, Canada has decided to refuse adoptions by clients who insist on declawing their cat.
For me, this is a brilliant idea and a bold one. But I don’t think that it’s a unique policy. I think that I can recall it happening in other shelters but it is rarely publicised. The story comes from an online newspaper: CBC News, Saskatchewan.
The new policy began at the end of May 2017. When a person approaches the shelter to adopt one of their cats they have to fill out the form with a question which asks whether they plan to declaw.
If the response to the question is “Yes”, a shelter volunteer tries to educate the potential adopter about the dangers of declawing and how unethical it is. The intention is to get the adopter to change their mind. If they fail to do so they are refused.
Comment: I wonder how they can make sure that a person who adopts a cat from them does not declaw the cat. How can they police it?
A volunteer, Rachel Molnar, at Regina Cat Rescue said that they wanted to take a stand against declawing and speak out against it.
In a further development against cat declawing, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association declared the procedure “ethically unacceptable”. They said that it has the potential to cause “unnecessary and avoidable pain”. Correct and well said. It is nice to see vets saying such things and being honest. But does it mean that all Canadian veterinarians have stopped declawing cats? I doubt it .
Returning to Regina Cat Rescue, they recently took in a sweet little cat who had been declawed and left outdoors. He was unable to defend himself and unfortunately was attacked by another cat, suffering bad injuries resulting in surgery to remove his left eye. He is now recovering. The photograph on this page is of this cat. His name is Peter.
