NEWS AND VIEWS: By Québec banning cat declawing – a great step in promoting animal welfare – it leaves the province of Ontario, Canada, as the only jurisdiction where cat declawing is now legal in that country.
RELATED: 63 jurisdictions specifically ban cat declawing (Dec 2023)
Canada is miles ahead of America in terms of this vital step to improving companion animal welfare. Come on America let’s see you follow suit! 💕 It is time to banish this horrendous operation to the history books in a country where animal welfare is dealt with to a pretty high standard. Cat declawing in America is an anomaly.
Anyway, to get back to the good news. The Montréal Gazette tells us that the new provincial rules came into force last Saturday. The rules concern four types of surgery that were discouraged by Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec (OMVQ) before they became illegal.
These surgeries are cat declawing as mentioned and in addition ear trimming, tail trimming and the removal of vocal chords.
Many veterinary clinics in Québec had already stopped cat declawing following the advice of OMVQ.
Dr. Gaston Rioux the president of OMVQ said that, “This is not a movement that is unique to Québec. Worldwide this is the type of surgery that is prohibited and also discouraged.”
Comment: America and Canada are unique in the world for allowing cat declawing. As I recall 37 other countries specifically ban the operation and in other countries it would be illegal through general animal protection legislation.
In fact, in America, the general animal welfare and protection legislation enacted federally or statewide would and should make cat declawing illegal but it doesn’t. Cat declawing is cat cruelty. It is an abuse of the domestic cat and under normal circumstances it would be regarded as a crime under standard animal welfare laws in America.
In a nice touch to the new Québec law, there is an added provision which prohibits travelling to have your animal undergo prohibited surgery outside the province.
I’m not sure how they will enforce that but I like it.
It would appear that the trimming ears and tails and the removal of vocal cords (de-barking) has not been practised by qualified veterinarians in Québec for years but it was possible to have the operations carried out by non-veterinarians. This makes the ban necessary.
RELATED: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bill S.222 An Act Prohibiting Inhumane Feline Declawing