Declawing and Devocalization Surgery: Is it Ethical?
Published December 14, 2011
The family dog is constantly barking loudly which is disturbing neighbors. The household cat flies to a favorite chair like a heat-seeking missile, scratching it to tatters, or is keeping folks up at night with its vociferous meowing. So how do many folks deal with these issues in order to remedy these “annoying” behavioral problems, making their lives more convenient? Often they resort to devocalizing their dog or cat or having the cat declawed.
Devocalization surgery entails the removal of most of the animal's vocal cords. Veterinarians may choose to perform this highly controversial surgery in an attempt to discontinue pets’ annoying behavior even though they are natural ones to both species of animal companions.
But there is some good news for both cats and dogs living in New York and Massachusetts, and those fortunate kitties residing in Israel. Currently legislation is pending in New York State which would ban devocalization of both dogs and cats unless surgery is warranted to deal with a serious medical condition. In 2010, Governor Patrick Deval of Massachusetts, a forward and humane thinking individual, signed a bill into law banning devocalization surgery in his state.
Israel's legislature unanimously passed a bill prohibiting feline declawing (unless medically necessary).
Since declawing felines in Israel is now considered a serious crime, this bill set very strict penalties for anyone convicted, which includes up to one year in jail and a $20,000 fine.
With the exception of several cities in California, the practice of feline declawing remains legal in the United States. According to Discover Magazine, approximately 25% of cats in the United States are declawed, even though it is not medically necessary. Conversely, feline declawing has already been banned in many countries throughout the world including England, Italy, France, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, Brazil, Australia, and many others.
While not medically necessary, declawing surgery can have long lasting negative effects. One study found that at least 20% of cats who underwent declaw surgery developed serious medical complications, including infection and inability to ambulate correctly.
Since many people still think declawing surgery just a "super manicure”, this writer feels strongly that if all veterinarians fully educate clients precisely on what the surgery entailed, along with the risks that declawing surgery and devocalizations carry, fewer people would opt to have their pets undergo these procedures. Cat lovers who abhor declawing and devocalization are hopeful that the United States and Canada will one day soon join the other countries that already have taken action to prohibit them.
What are your thoughts about declawing and devocalization of dogs and cats? Share with a comment.
Shortly after retiring as a social worker and psychotherapist, I discovered my "writer's voice"…
News & Blogs
Leave a Comment
No account? Sign up here.
Your Privacy
Comments (9)
I have a dog that was devocalized before I rescued him. My dog has serious medical problems due to this convenience surgery which was performed by a veterinarian. And these problems are not unique to my dog. Frequently complications occur. What right does the human being have to take away an animals voice? That sure reflects upon our selfish society.
My daughter had Cancer and she had 4 cats. Her doctor insisted that we make sure she never received a cat scratch. My daughter would have been shattered if she lost her cats. They were and are indoor cats. So we had them declawed. My daughter died 4 years ago after a 6 year battle against her Cancer. But she had her cats that she loved so much to help her cope. I do not regret doing it and there has never been a problem for the cats resulting from the declawing. I believe that there is rarely a problem if done by an excellent vet. I worked in pet rescue for almost 40 years and only saw three cases were there was a problem resulting from declawing. But in every form of surgery there is always a chance of something going wrong.
Barbaric LAZY owners who do not have time for pets.
Spay or neuter these owners.
I used volunteered at a vet office when I was a teenager as I had planned on joining that profession at the time, but much of what I saw changed my mind. I saw these procedures done routinely and they are very crudely done. I describe them in detail to anyone that considers it. Usually just explaining what happens is enough for them to change their minds.
Both surgeries are barbaric and done because people are just plain to LAZY to teach the animal to behave. We have a mulit-cat household and have no problems what so ever. The cats have THEIR cat tree and are given LOTS of cardboard boxes to tear up as they please. They have even learned the difference between THEIR boxes and OUR boxes and do not dig where it is not allowed. Taking an animals voice away is just sad and sick. I have sometimes wished that the dogs next door were de-barked when 11 great Danes all get barking at once. That is most of the day by the way. No amount of reasoning will make her train her dogs. as she told us....it is a dog's nature to bark. UGH!! There are easy solutions to take care of pet problems. Our neighbors de-clawed cats all have broken tails. That is because her son thinks it is cute to grab and drag the cats by the tails. Instead of making the brat behave she had the cats de-clawed. I have had rescued cats that were de clawed and they all seem to have problems of one kind or another. Both operations should be against the law.