Onychectomy Pros And Cons

I am writing to you, Representative Suzanne Bonamici, for help on a serious issue that needs to be addressed in our state. For too many years, humans have made the uneducated decision to get their cats’ claws surgically removed, a procedure called Onychectomy, to correct the cat’s natural instinct to scratch. When asked, a majority of those pet owners didn’t know fully what the procedure entailed as the veterinarians didn’t go into detail, and weren’t prepared for the behavioral problems the majority of cats experience after the procedure. This is just one of the reasons why Oregon needs to develop legislature that makes Onychectomy on all pets illegal and beginning in 2016, with the change in the FBI’s new definition of animal abuse, punishishable

Not only are they great companions, but it has been proven that pet ownership can help with such health problems as cardiovascular problems and mental health problems like depression (News in Health, February 2009). The American Veterinary Medical Association website lists Oregon as the 3rd highest cat owning state in 2013, and about two-thirds of all American households own pets. It is estimated that as many as 25%-43% of cats in America have been declawed (Paw Project). That is a lot of animals and much potential for abuse, let’s look at the facts about what declawing is and its effects on the animals who are subjected to

The fact is that nearly all communicable diseases that immune-compromised people can contract from animals come from flea feces (Ethical Veterinary). Good flea and tick control is recommended. Information from the EthicalVeterinary.com site states that the Cornell Feline Health Center doesn’t recommend declawing as a way to prevent zoonotic diseases transmitted from animal to human. Their recommendation is to practice good grooming habits by keeping the nails trimmed short. As you can see, there are many different ways a pet owner can deal with the scratching behavior that doesn’t include the Onychectomy surgery. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, if you are concerned about there not being a precedent for banning declawing you will be happy. Declawing has since been made illegal in 8 California cities: West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City and Berkeley (Paw Project). Declawing is also illegal in many other countries including: Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Norway and Germany. As I write, in New York, there is a first- of- its- kind bill being introduced into legislation, Assembly Bill 1297, which would make declawing a cat or any other kind of animal a crime (Jeff