"Then perhaps the next time the topic comes up you should not reply the way you did originally which essentially was "if you have furniture you are worried about and your cat is still a kitten, go for it" I responded with that because the unfortunate truth is that is the usual reason why people do it and most people don't want to be educated on why not to do it but most vets will at least attempt to discuss options.. just rarely works.
Another thing is that it is NOT a "cash cow" that everyone says it is, a feline neuter is much more so than a declaw, which actually maybe part of the problem. Let me explain.... lets say you take your cat in for a neuter and you want a declaw as well, the declaw may cost you an additional $15 - $25 dollars.. thats hardly a cash cow. And the problem with that is it makes it very cheap for people and they immediately see that as an a better choice then a scratched up couch, now if declawa were say $300 then there would be VERY few done as the average owner won't pay that. The other issue is that because they are so cheap that a lot of vets don't take the procedure very seriously and do a shitty job which results in issues. Another example of this is spay and neuter clinics and shelters, when they do spay the line them up like a conveyer belt and run 60-80 through a day as fast as they can, its barely even sterile environment and a lot of them don't even use seperate clean instruments on each animal. Now this procedure should take about an 45 minutes to do properly but these places run them through at 5 -10 minutes each and needless to say a good portion of them have issues post-op. "I just personally would rather put my efforts towards educating someone in all the other ways to prevent scratching problems, and that declawing is not an appropriate solution to such issues, than just saying, well they'll do it anyway, so why bother trying to convince them otherwise." I agree but the problem with that is that as much as you try to do it people just don't want to listen and when you do that 5-10 times a day with little results your efforts become less and less. So a lot of the vets quit really trying because they get conditioned to the typical response. The thing I didn't like about your original post was that you said something like "studies show that the develop behavioral issues" And Thats what I didnt agree with because I know better. The last place I worked was an ER clinic and there is this holistic dr in denver who when you go in she asks you if the cat is declawed and if it is she stops right there and blames the owners and the declaw.. well by the time we would see that cat and would actually medically work up the case it was never an issue with the declaw but this lady wouldn't even do blood work or xrays just blamed it on declaw. I know Sean is pissed and ur pissed but again i am just coming at it from years of schooling and over a decade in the field. Even if I fully agreed with you I would say the same things because there is 2 sides to it not just one and it should be up to the owner to look at all of our opinions and the links we provide and discuss it with their vet to come up with the best solution for them. And if someone is gunna get pissed at someone else for just showing the other side of something then that person isn't very objective and selfish. .. > > Then perhaps the next time the topic comes up you should not reply the > way you did originally which essentially was "if you have furniture > you are worried about and your cat is still a kitten, go for it". This > is not the statement of someone that thinks the procedure should > *only* be done if the person is going to get rid of the cat should > they not be able to prevent scratching, that is practically > encouraging someone to do it. I don't disagree with your statement > that *if* someone is planning to have it done, younger is better > (although still not without risk)....I just personally would rather > put my efforts towards educating someone in all the other ways to > prevent scratching problems, and that declawing is not an appropriate > solution to such issues, than just saying, well they'll do it anyway, > so why bother trying to convince them otherwise. Many people *would* > think twice about doing it if given all the information, but that very > often does not happen, and it's just done as a matter of routine. As > Helen Keller said, there are few evils worse in this world than apathy. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:249033 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
