I hope that the wonderful Dr. Janet Gordon Palm of New Hope Animal Hospital in Minnesota will not mind me quoting her recent comment on Facebook, as follows: Kudos to Paw Project Utah for collecting this data which appears to be necessary to reach a certain demographic. Common sense dictates that scientific evidence of some things should not be necessary to make your own moral decision. Would we need evidence base studies to show that amputation of the ends of all 10 of our fingers/toes--then attempting to walk, run, stand on them for the rest of our lives would cause us physical and emotional discomfort? For those that say they know of cats that seem fine for years post declaw-- its called adaptation! We are punishing cats for their innate ability to adapt to their new limitations. Think of the number of cats we see with painful tooth lesions that learn to swallow food without chewing, and maintain their overweight status (probably also declawed), yet we get those animals in to have those painful teeth extracted so they can finally be out of pain. We convince owners of the cats ability to live with that limitation and mask the discomfort, yet we are seemingly blinded by the obvious iatrogenic lifelong pain we have inflicted by performing these multiple amputations. As vets, we take an oath to Do No Harm. Educating and taking the time in offering viable options is key. Merely cutting down on the numbers of declaws per year is not enough. Maiming even one for life is inexcusable. I love my profession and want us to be on the right side of history on this. To my fellow veterinary colleagues I say Open your eyes, minds, and hearts and take a stand on this issue!
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 21:05:56 +0000
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