The Declaw Hall of Shame
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be
measured by the way in which its animals are treated."
Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948
Welcome to the Declaw Hall of Shame. This web site lists veterinary clinics and animal hospitals that advertise or otherwise promote declawing on the web.
Please contact the clinics listed on this site, and let them know that you will be spreading the word about them and will be promoting the boycott of their clinic for as long as they promote and perform declaws.
What is Declawing?
In a nutshell:
Declawing, or onychectomy, is the amputation of a cat's toes at the first joint.
The procedure is comparable to a human having their fingers cut off at the top
joint. Many feel that declawing is an unethical, inhumane and abusive
procedure that is nothing more than the mutilation of an animal purely for human
convenience.
There are many excellent web sites that provide information about what this
procedure is and why it is so harmful to cats. Here are some examples:
The
Declaw Information Site
Educate!
Don't Amputate!
Declawing
Cats: Making a Humane Decision
Declawing:
What You Need To Know
So why do so many vets declaw, if it's so inhumane?
Well, in much of the
developed world, they don't. Declawing is banned in most of Europe
and in Brazil, New Zealand and Australia, except in cases of medical necessity.
But that's not the case in the US and Canada - and the reason why so many vets
are so willing and even anxious to perform declaws is because it's a lucrative
procedure that brings a lot of money into their clinics. Additionally, not
only is declawing legal in the US and Canada, there are no professional standards in North America that require vets
to educate their clients about what declawing really is so that the client can
make an informed decision.
Here in North America, there are some enlightened vets who refuse to declaw cats
except in cases of medical necessity. Others will attempt to dissuade
their clients from declawing their cats but will perform the procedure if the
client insists. Still others provide some basic (and sometimes misleading)
information to their
clients, but make no attempt to dissuade them from declawing. And then
there are those who not only don't attempt to dissuade their clients from
declawing, they actually promote the procedure and/or actively encourage their
clients to choose to have their cats declawed. The veterinary clinics
listed in the Declaw Hall of Shame belong primarily to these last two
categories.
The Declaw Hall of Shame
Eastern US Central US Western US Canada
Do you know of a vet
clinic that promotes declawing on its web site?
E-mail
us!
Visit the Declaw Hall of Fame - a directory of vets who refuse to declaw cats.
visitors since October 2000