Educate your vet: Surgically stifling the voice doesn't ensure dogs and cats a secure home; responsible, humane people who commit to their animals do.
There is NO ethical reason for elective vocal cord surgery.
There is NO ethical reason for elective vocal cord surgery.
SCROLL DOWN to bring your vet on board! Till more do, the cruelty will continue.
No matter how it's done--through the open mouth or an incision in the neck--vocal cord surgery is always dangerous. And when performed just to alter a dog's or cat's voice, commonly called devocalization (or bark/voice softening, debarking or bark/voice reduction), it is always inhumane.
Yet there are vets who perform or defend it anyway. And veterinary associations work to defeat laws prohibiting this act of cruelty with loopholes that allow and sanction it. Why?
Some vets devocalize; it's profitable. Some don't know that altering the voice does NOT ensure animals a home, let alone a good one. Others don't want anyone limiting their ability to perform non-therapeutic surgery, even one like devocalization, which subjects animals to life-threatening risks without any benefit. They make baseless claims in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
Veterinary patients--innocent dogs and cats--are helpless to refuse this cruel convenience surgery. It won't end until you AND your vet speak out!
Yet there are vets who perform or defend it anyway. And veterinary associations work to defeat laws prohibiting this act of cruelty with loopholes that allow and sanction it. Why?
Some vets devocalize; it's profitable. Some don't know that altering the voice does NOT ensure animals a home, let alone a good one. Others don't want anyone limiting their ability to perform non-therapeutic surgery, even one like devocalization, which subjects animals to life-threatening risks without any benefit. They make baseless claims in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
Veterinary patients--innocent dogs and cats--are helpless to refuse this cruel convenience surgery. It won't end until you AND your vet speak out!
Tell Your Vet: Take This Simple Step to Protect Animals
Urge your vet to join his or her concerned peers who have submitted our online form (click on the button, below). It calls for prohibition of vocal cord surgery on dogs and cats except for the only ethical reason: to treat a physical ailment, like cancer, causing the animal medical harm.
Urge your vet to join his or her concerned peers who have submitted our online form (click on the button, below). It calls for prohibition of vocal cord surgery on dogs and cats except for the only ethical reason: to treat a physical ailment, like cancer, causing the animal medical harm.
You can contact us to see if your vet followed through on your request.
Don't be shy. You're the client. You pay the bills. You have the right to expect the person caring for your best friend to share your values. If he or she doesn't, you have the right to choose one who does.
Don't be shy. You're the client. You pay the bills. You have the right to expect the person caring for your best friend to share your values. If he or she doesn't, you have the right to choose one who does.
Educate Your Vet: Devocalization is Animal Abuse, NOT Animal Rescue
Some vets say devocalization or "bark softening" keeps animals in their homes or prevents euthanasia. Some even believe it.
But shelters and rescue groups know that's not true. They say these animals are relinquished, abandoned and convenience-euthanized despite--some because of--their surgically altered voices.
Cutting vocal cords doesn't prevent animals from biting or house-soiling and could even lead to or worsen these problem behaviors. It doesn't improve an owner's health or personal issues. These--and the cost of caring for pets--are the leading causes of surrender and euthanasia. Barking and meowing are NOT.
And what do you think happens to animals whose owners can't or won't pay for expensive corrective surgery when scar tissue forms over the airway after voice-alteration?
Educate your vet. He or she may not be aware that behavior-masking surgery doesn't provide animals with a safe, loving and secure home. People who select, care for, train and supervise animals humanely and responsibly--and who make a lifetime commitment to them--do.
Some vets say devocalization or "bark softening" keeps animals in their homes or prevents euthanasia. Some even believe it.
But shelters and rescue groups know that's not true. They say these animals are relinquished, abandoned and convenience-euthanized despite--some because of--their surgically altered voices.
Cutting vocal cords doesn't prevent animals from biting or house-soiling and could even lead to or worsen these problem behaviors. It doesn't improve an owner's health or personal issues. These--and the cost of caring for pets--are the leading causes of surrender and euthanasia. Barking and meowing are NOT.
And what do you think happens to animals whose owners can't or won't pay for expensive corrective surgery when scar tissue forms over the airway after voice-alteration?
Educate your vet. He or she may not be aware that behavior-masking surgery doesn't provide animals with a safe, loving and secure home. People who select, care for, train and supervise animals humanely and responsibly--and who make a lifetime commitment to them--do.
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