It is great to see the well-known comedian and actor both supporting The Paw Project and encouraging New York legislators to turn the Bill they are debating on the banning of declawing into law (a statute).
The debate amongst the law makers of New York state on banning declawing is huge for all cat and animal lovers. It is such a significant moment. If they turn this Bill into statute and ban declawing statewide there will be reverberations throughout the country. We would be hopeful that other states would follow suit.
It is time things changed. There is a general and gradual change in attitudes against declawing both amongst veterinarians and cat owners. It is dawning on some people that the misleading description of “declawing” is better described as a barbaric act of legalised cat cruelty involving ten amputations.
It is wonderful to see Ricky Gervais adding some celebrity weight to the battle to stop this anomaly of cat ownership. Declawing only occurs in North America. It is a bizarre state of affairs. It is difficult to understand how the operation took hold around 50 years ago. Declawing of cats was not always an option in N. America. It was unheard of at one time.
In the UK it is unheard of. Most cat owners would not know of it if asked about it. Ricky Gervais lives with a Seal Pointed Siamese, Ollie.
See hundreds of pages on declawing on this site (and here).
I use a cat specialist at a VCA hospital. Before their ban or upcoming one I had a discussion about this with her.
Her position was clear. As long as it’s legal she will do the procedure at the insistence of the cat owner because if she doesn’t and can’t dissuade them they will go someplace else and that veterinarian may not use the pain control needed after.
It was an interesting discussion and dealt with the an ethical side of this issue from the vets perspective.
As I have said before elsewhere. If we were talking dogs and lobbing off half their toe to avoid damage from their claws the procedure would have been made illegal long ago.
I have heard that argument before about cat owners going somewhere else. I understand it but it is a poor argument and an argument of defeat. It tells us that too many vets want to do declawing and the good vets who don’t want to do it have to do it because the bad ones will. I don’t like that way of thinking. Why don’t the good vets who don’t want to do it get together and force change? They can’t be bothered or there is no prospect of success. The vets have a lot to answer for. They are in denial about their participation in this mass mutilation for non-therapeutic purposes. It is a terrible blot on their copybook.
I’m not defending her position. Just sharing it. It came up when I mentioned my 4 month old was not scratching on her post and she promptly handed me a stack of information on the evils of declawing.
Her status probably allowed her to participate in the VCAs decision to stop offering this mutilation.
The best way to end this is to petition your state and local ordinances to make declawing animal abuse that comes with a fine, or jail time.
Veterinarians here used to offer neuter/spay declaw packages.
You still see the occasional for rent here that requires a cat be declawed under their pet policy. It’s part of the ingrained culture of cats are evil.
And why does your vet want clients they can’t convince difficult clients to do right by their animals. I bet she doesn’t try very hard. Easier to just say the customer is right, or stubborn, I don’t have time to argue or convince, Yada yada…
Doctor, your job is to serve MY CAT, not my furniture.
There never was a problem with toes, you created one.