Revising its previous 2015 position statement on declawing, the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) now strongly opposes onychectomy as an elective procedure. The AAFP’s position stresses the need for veterinary teams to educate cat caregivers, as many are unaware that declawing is a surgical amputation of the third phalanx. Scratching is a normal feline behavior. Veterinarians are obligated to educate cat owners about normal scratching behaviors and options for cats to exhibit appropriate scratching behavior in the home, said the AAFP in a statement.
Source: Veterinary Practice News, September 7, 2017.
The AAFP supports change that focuses on educating veterinary teams and cat caregivers to make a future impact with lasting results. Veterinary teams will be supplied with a toolkit of resources to assist them in educating cat caregivers about why cats have claws, why cats scratch inanimate objects, best practices for living alongside a cat with claws, ideal scratching surfaces, training cats to scratch appropriately, and troubleshooting inappropriate scratching in the home.
INSIGHTS: Attention sales personnel and animal health pros in charge of social media! Educational materials are available to support this change. They are free to all veterinary practices, including nonmembers, at catvets.com/scratching. This information also is available to cat caregivers, which can be found on the consumer website, The Cat Community, at catfriendly.com/scratching.