by Chris H
(Ontario, Canada)
More veterinarians are taking stands against performing cosmetic and convenience surgeries – according to DVM Newsmagazine online,
“Animal-welfare concerns are changing the way DVMs work”
“Societal ‘awareness’ increasingly influencing teaching, practice of veterinary medicine”
“National Report. Animal-welfare issues are becoming more prevalent, as evidenced by the sheer volume of legislation introduced and adopted throughout the country recently…
…Small animals, big issues
Companion-animal practitioners have seen their share of welfare challenges in recent years as well. Ear cropping, tail docking and declawing most frequently are discussed.
Many practices no longer offer ear cropping, if they ever did, and some do not perform tail dockings.
Dr. Erinn Kelly, of Lincoln Park Veterinary Hospital in Lincoln Park, Mich., has practiced for 18 years and has never performed an ear cropping, although her clinic did offer them until six years ago.
“We didn’t feel they were humane,” she says of the decision.
If someone requests the procedure, they refer the client to another veterinarian in town.
Overall, Kelly says requests for ear cropping and tail docking seem to be on the decline.
She has noticed an uptake in the number of laser declaws and use of pain medication.
“Pain control for elective procedures is a lot more accepted,” she says. “In the past, we never offered it for spays or neuters. Now, if it’s offered, 95 percent of the time they accept it.”
While some activists have made an issue of declawing, Kelly does not have a problem with it.
“If it keeps the cat in the home, it’s not an ethical issue for me,” she says. “I have three cats of my own, and they’re declawed. I do strongly encourage doing it at an early age, and I strongly encourage laser declaw…”
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I believe the following HSVMA article doesn’t accurately explain declawing (pain, possible future consequences & complications, lack of research, ethics), nor how many vets still offer & promote it & has at least one critical broken link:
“HSVMA Launches Campaign on Cosmetic and Convenience Surgeries” – link – link broken 2012 (new window).
“This campaign has been designed to help educate the public and provide tools to veterinary professionals who are opposed to these non-therapeutic procedures, which include ear cropping, tail docking, devocalization of cats and dogs, and declawing of cats.
Many veterinarians are already refusing to perform these procedures, as they are typically performed solely for the cosmetic preferences and convenience of the caregivers and provide no medical benefit to the animal…”
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I wish.
How many is “many”?
If this is true, are the vets listing themselves online as officially refusing to declaw?
Even the HSUS disagrees.
“Declawing is still legal and common in the United States and Canada”, according to the HSUS “Animal Sheltering” magazine article “The Declaw Dilemma”..link – link broken 2012 (new window)
“But how humane is it? And is it ethical? In the absence of definitive studies that can answer these questions, shelters are developing policies and practices that balance their desire to place animals and preserve the human-animal bond with their desire to prevent unnecessary and possibly pain-inducing procedures…”
Chris H
“Many vets already refusing” to declaw. Really? to Declawing cats
