A historic day for felines in our province as Manitoba's veterinarians voted to officially ban the practice of declawing.
Manitoba is the sixth province in Canada that has banned the practice of non-medically necessary partial digital amputation (PDA), better known as cat declawing. Alberta banned it in March, Newfoundland and Labrador banned it in January, and British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia banned it in 2018.
The Manitoba vote closed May 29 and the association said Manitoba vets were overwhelmingly in favour.
The association said the move follows the 2017 release of a position statement from the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association that said the practice was “ethically unacceptable when performed without comprehensive client education including a thorough review of available alternatives, as the surgery has the potential to cause unnecessary and avoidable pain and alternatives to PDA are available,” referring to the medical name for the declawing procedure, partial digital amputation.
This is really great news for all pet lovers and cat owners! Go Manitoba!