Here’s a chance to recognize a veterinarian who opposes declaw surgeries!
Check this out, my friends! The American Veterinarian Medical Foundation (AVMF) is holding its annual “America’s Favorite Veterinarian” contest and one of its top ten finalists is a veterinarian who refuses to accept declaw surgery requests. In fact, he’d like to see it banned altogether.
I say we reward his courage and unwavering devotion to his patients’ welfare by voting him in as 2015’s “America’s Favorite Veterinarian”!
There are only 10 days left! To vote, click here and then click the red “Vote” button.
You can vote once every day between now and September 1st – and you should! If you’d like to receive a daily e-mail reminder to vote, just click here.
Edited to add: You can actually vote once a day per email address per device. So vote on your desktop, your iPad or Kindle, and your cell!
If you would like additional information on Dr. Richter, City the Kitty did some personal research and you can read all about it by clicking here.
Declawing is a barbaric procedure that has lifetime consequences for the cat and is either banned or considered extremely inhumane in over 41 civilized countries. The American Veterinarian Medical Association (AVMA), however, refuses to take a stance against it, as too many of its members are loath to give up the lucrative income and refuse to see the harm it does, despite all the evidence. Dr. Richter’s stance against this cruelty, especially in the face of his fellow veterinarians’ antipathy, deserves admiration and, more than that, our support. So go vote for him; give him a platform from which to affect change! And let’s all hope we see elective declaw surgeries banned within our lifetimes!
Edited to add… This is Dr. Richter’s clinic’s Facebook page, “Montclair Vet“. After you cast today’s vote and set up your daily reminder, go give him some love! 😉
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Declawing is cruel and unnatural. Stop maiming healthy animals!
Absolutely agree with you, Klaus. I hope you voted for Dr. Richter and his stance against this horrible practice! (And don’t forget to go back and vote for him every day until September 1st!)
In Australia declawing cats is banned by law and punished acordingly. I cant believe that anyone would create such atrocity against a living being.
I feel the same, M. Hopefully the American Veterinarian Medical Association and its members will step up soon, do the right thing, and ban this awful procedure.
These are wrongful posts. Whoever started this movement, called every finalist, asking if they declaw. They did not any more. Most vets declaw, but it is not recommended by the vets. This finalist may not declaw, but the other finalists declaw as a last resort. They will work with the owner to find other options before resorting to declawing. This is a jump to conclusion movement, which is just senseless and careless. And the end results… CANCELLED! https://www.avma.org/News/PressRoom/Pages/Americas-Favorite-Veterinarian-Contest-halted-due-to-cyber-bullying-finalists-to-be-honored-collectively.aspx
Actually, the contest was cancelled because a bunch of morons decided to engage in nasty cyber bullying. NOT because so many cat owners decided to vote for the one vet who, early in his career, made the hard but right choice to refuse to chop off feline toe tips for owner convenience.
M.A. You might want to do your research. The 10 vets were called and 6 of them offered to declaw the cat, some on all four paws, no questions asked as to the humane alternatives being tried or why the declaw was being requested. The price and the day that the doctor performed the declaw were offered. They offered them as a first option not as a last resort. There were three who DID suggest the humane alternatives, although they also talked about how well they do declawing..Out of the three who offered up the humane alternatives, one touted how good their laser skills are, one said a laser declaw isn’t as traumatic and the paws are going to be “a little sensitive” after. The AVMA and AVMF cancelled the contest because they did not want a no declaw vet in that position. The handful of “cyber bullies” didn’t warrant cancelling a whole competition. https://www.facebook.com/citythekitty/photos/a.10153032353833642.1073741840.200506123641/10154184567408642/?type=1&theater
The staff was called. Had a person made an appointment, and spoken to the doctor, the doctor would go over all the options with that client before setting a surgery date (maybe not all, but to assume they wouldn’t is crass). When one call is made, and one person speaks to only one employee, the question is answered in a timley manner, as we know how fast-paced animal hospitals are. Before setting a surgery date, again, it is likely that techs and doctors will discuss it with the client before proceeding to surgery. Again, not always may this be done, but if these vet’s were voted for such a prestigious honor, I’d like to think they are all aware of how to run a humane practice. Dr. Richter would never had been nominated if they did not want him to win. The contest was cancelled due to a skew in the votes due to hackers and the criticism to those trying to run a practice. It’s truly sad that nothing can be done anymore, without someone taking offense and throwing it out the window.
Once again, the contest was cancelled because a few crazies and their fans made life miserable for the contestants, some of whom subsequently pulled out. There was no “hacking” of votes and Dr. Richter’s explosive leap in the ratings was completely legitimate.
There just are that many passionate and caring people who want to see an end to elective declaw surgeries and believed choosing a veterinarian with the same sentiment to become “America’s Favorite Vet” would be a step in that direction.
the red vote button has disappeared from the vet’s page on my screen, so i cant vote today.
oops sorry just realised that competition is cancelled. What a shame.
Having researched vetnrieary school curricula and mainstream feline/small animal vetnrieary practices in North America, I know that techniques for amputating feline toes (popularly called “declawing”) is taught as “state of the (alleged) art.” How to train a cat to direct feline scratching behavior onto a suitable scratcher, post, or other objecr is NOT PRESENTED. I have called so-called “top veterinarians” in the field with my query: “What do I do to get a cat declawed?” ALL past presidents of the American Veterinary Medical Association told me that, if the cat proved healthy enough to withstand the surgery, I could set up a appointment. One past-president, Joseph Howell, didn’t require an appointment, and I was advised: “Just bring the cat in.” NONE of these “experts/clinicians” would provide me with information on training a cat to use an appropriate scratcher. I will always remember the response I got when I asked the receptionist in Dr. Ostrich’s office if they would provide me with tips on training a cat to use a scratcher.I called Dr. Ostrich’s office because he won an ethics award! The receptionist’s reply: Oh, we don’t do nothin’ like that! (Bad grammar is not hurtfu, unlike the cruelty inflicted by the “ethics award winner!”)In the Directory of the American Veterinary Medical Association, published annually, are listed DVDs on how to declaw that are available for borrowing. There are NO materials on training a cat to use a suitable scratcher nor, of course, qualities of a suitable scratching object! Who doesn’t see something extremely WRONG with this scenario? Anyone interested can make their own calls to the “creme of the crop” vets, as I have done,, peruse the AVMA Direcotry, as I have done, and/or research the contents of the curricula at the vetnrieary colleges!Anyone can also visit animal shelters and/or query staff at animal shelters to find shameful information on numbers of relinquished/abandoned declawed cats, a large percentage of which present with behavioral problems that render them unadoptable, WITHOUT A CHANCE at a new home/life. I ask all concerned to contact presidents of universities that house vetnrieary schools, and present the scenario that I have here outlined. Deans of vetnrieary schools and other “leaders of the vetnrieary industry” are not interested in changing the fast cash flow and becoming low level instructors of the helpful, simple truth.