New Jersey veterinarians are terrified about losing their declawing business (a substantial bread and butter income). There is a distinct possibility that the law makers of the state will ban declawing statewide. New York state is also debating the same law.
The typical reaction of veterinarians is to say that if declawing is banned there will be a lot more abandoned, relinquished and euthanised cats because of various reasons, two of which are:
- some cat owners insist on declawed cats
- some cat owners have medical issues which make them vulnerable to cat scratches
Or there will be fewer adoptions. Don’t believe the vets who state that this a choice between declawing or euthanasia in a shelter. It is not. In fact in the cities of California where declawing is banned euthanasia rates are down.
The vets’ argument is deeply flawed. Firstly declawing is by their own admission meant to be an option of last resort. The number of declaws should be incredibly small because declawing for medical reasons concerning the cat or the person should be very rare. As such any change in the law should have a minimal impact in respect of abandoning cats. That should be the normal state of affairs and it undermines the vets’ argument completely.
However, the truth currently is that declawing is a standard operation often encouraged by veterinarians or at least not discouraged. Therefore there will be some cat owners who will decide to stop adopting cats after the ban. But this will be a temporary state of affairs as the citizens of New Jersey soon come to realise that you can get along very nicely with a cat who has his claws. It just takes an attitude adjustment. In fact I would suggest that the majority of New Jersey citizens don’t declaw their cats which proves the point.
The vets make unconvincing arguments. They say that New Jersey vets are educating clients on alternatives to declawing. My research on declawing over many years does not bear out this statement. In general vets do not educate their clients on declawing. If anything they tend to pull the wool over their eyes and underplay the significance of the operation. Even the description “declawing” is a misnomer invented by vets. It should be “multiple claw and phalange amputation”.
Extraordinarily the NJ vets say that nowadays declawing is “virtually painless for cats”. How do they know? Believe me many thousands of cats are still climbing the walls of their cage in agony after being declawed as I write this.
The statement that declawing is virtually painless ignores the long term disabilities and complications that can result from declawing. It ignores the botched operations carried out at speed. It ignores the immorality of the operation which mutilates the cat extensively at the behest and for the convenience of the cat’s owner and for the profit of the vet.
The fake and loving language the vets use to convince the public that they actually care about the cats that they declaw is slightly sickening.
“As the leading advocates for saving the lives of unwanted or discarded animals, we’re laying out the vital facts and calling on concerned citizens to oppose this legislation at LoveYourCats.org.”
The so called “facts” that the vets are laying out are not facts at all. They are a distortion of the truth with the sole intention of retaining declawing so they can continue to milk the operation for all it is worth. Declawing is too important to vets financially to relinquish without a fight.
I would implore the cat owners of New Jersey to take what the vets say with a pinch of salt. Think hard about declawing and reject it and the vets’ false arguments.
There are hundreds of articles on this site about declawing. Start here and if you don’t believe what I write I hope the articles change your mind.
Yes – they are greedy. Declawing is a major cash cow, as is deworming after this latest legislation. Maybe someday the vets will price themselves out of business.
If she was right, a Czechoslovakian friend said that veterinary care is free in her country. Though of course nothing is; the Scandinavians relinquish at least a third of their income. But if people in democratic socialisms can fall through the cracks, over here we plunge into a chasm. America’s nursing homes charge $9,000 a month to care for their residents. Hospitals charge patients $20.00 for an aspirin. Childcare costs $600.00+ a month. And students with only four years of college are sunk in debt.
Declawing should be criminalized. The newcomer in my house is learning she can claw only one chair: a $20.00 upholstered number from Salvation Army I bought for my other cats, both of them gone, to rip up. She’s in heaven to pump the remnants of stuffing still clinging to its frame. POCK! POCK!
This summer I mentioned her clawing to one of her veterinarians. He glanced at her toes and said that I ‘might want to consider. . . ‘ then stopped. I’ve never knowingly reamed anyone with a death-ray glare, but he got as far as the word ‘consider,’ locked eyes with me and petered out mid-sentence, as if he saw the Portals of Hell yawning open to engulf him.
Nice to hear from you Silvia Ann. Vets can be a bit greedy, hence declawing. I think the veterinarian’s status in the USA is harmed by their declawing of cats.