Declaw Demo

I am happy to have created the idea of a demonstration against declawing at St. Louis, the coming weekend outside the AVMA convention.

I am sad that I cannot be there. As I have previously said, I cannot justify spending an estimated $1000 travelling from Europe to St. Louis in the hope that someone will turn up. Unfortunately, I received no more than a handful of confirmations of attendance. I am not criticising anyone; I have no right to. I have nothing but praise for anyone who supports the idea of a demonstration against declawing.

Having reluctantly taken a back seat, I had hoped that someone would take up the baton and see if they could do something to make the demonstration work. It appears that this has happened.

As far as I can tell a demonstration will take place on Saturday 16th July 2011. It seems that this has been organised by local people. If I am correct, I say, "Well done". I wish you the best of luck. I would like you to tell us what happened; just say it here if you feel inclined to do so.

There is no doubt in my mind that the declawing of cats for non-therapeutic reasons will stop one day. The stopping has to come from the people who keep cats. There are many cat guardians in the USA who hate declawing, But taken as a whole and in general, cat declawing is supported in the USA at present (16th July 2011). I have to make this conclusion because it exists.

If people in general disagreed with it, declawing would gradually fade away. You would not need laws to ban it (one example).

Declawing is a state of mind. You can only take your cat to the vet to be declawed if you see your cat as "something" that is less than a living and feeling animal companion. If you have a true empathy with your cat - the hallmark of a proper relationship with a cat companion - the idea of declawing is revolting. The same applies to the veterinarians who drive this aberrant behavior.

The idea of the demonstration was to do something, "on the ground", something more tangible and direct than writing words in cosy and comfortable surroundings far removed from the sharp end. I feel that something like this is needed to chip away at that false state of mind, which makes declawing acceptable.

I still find it very strange, an anomaly, that declawing exists in the USA. It is a national "mistake". Something went wrong. It is time to correct it.