The Paw Project: A Review

Last night I watched The Paw Project, a documentary by the non-profit organization of the same name, and my eyes were opened.

This film is about feline onychectomy, more commonly known as “declawing” and while I believed I knew what declawing wasn’t before viewing this film (it’s not just simply snipping off a cat’s claws, as many people seem to think), I definitely didn’t know all that this procedure is.

Declawing is a very painful and medically unnecessary procedure in which a cat’s toes are amputated at the first knuckle. In humans, our nails grow from the skin, but in a cat, the nail (claw) grows from bone, so to remove the nail, the bone must be removed, as well. Declawing can be likened to removal of the first knuckle in a human. Ouch!! But wait, it gets worse. There’s also a procedure that I had never heard about before, called tendonectomy, in which the tendons that enable a cat to flex its paws and claws are snipped, resulting in a floppy and essentially useless paw. What?! Why?!

This is an attention-grabber, isn’t it?!

Aside from being barbaric, these practices can leave cats with a lifetime of painful feet and they often suffer from debilitating arthritis, lameness and a host of other ailments as a result. It is also not unusual for cats to change their behavior after declawing. Removing claws removes a cat’s natural defense and without their claws, many cats begin to defend themselves by biting. And, because their feet are so painful, it hurts for them to dig in their litter boxes and sometimes, they begin eliminating in undesirable locations. You know what happens to cats who bite and who don’t use their litter box, right? They end up in shelters where they will likely face euthanasia because of “behavioral issues” that were completely human-generated. In other words, declawing = a death sentence for many cats.

Cats are natural scratchers. It’s what they do and people should know this when they decide to add a cat to their family. To amputate a cat’s claws just because it scratches is absurd. A veterinarian featured in the film said that we don’t remove all of a puppy’s teeth when it teethes and chews on things in the house, so why would we declaw a cat because it scratches? It’s not the correct solution to the perceived “problem” and that’s what The Paw Project is trying so hard to make people realize.

This film also exposes the effects of declawing big cats in captivity. The founder of The Paw Project, Dr. Jennifer Conrad, an exotic animal vet, was inspired to form this organization because of the devastating effects of declawing that she witnessed in the patients she cared for. In big cats, the effects of declawing can be even more detrimental than those in domestic felines. Because of their large sizes, big cats who have been declawed are oftentimes so crippled and in such pain that they cannot get to their water sources. The film mentioned several big cats who were believed to have died at young ages because of dehydration from being unable to reach their water. Oh my God! Why is this allowed to continue to happen? Yet another reason, in my book, how the captivity industry completely fails animals.

Through Dr. Conrad’s expert testimony, along with that of other seasoned veterinarians and animal behaviorists (Jackson Galaxy, among them — love that guy!), The Paw Project drives home several messages and really makes you think long and hard about the veterinary system in our country. Declawing takes an essential element of being a cat away from cats. People who elect to put their pets through the declawing procedure are choosing the well-being of their furniture (inanimate objects) above that of their pets (living, feeling beings) and veterinarians who perform these practices are breaking one of the cardinal components of the veterinary oath to cause no harm to the patients in their care.

There’s a reason why declawing is illegal in more than 20 countries throughout the world. It’s considered to be a form of animal cruelty that leaves cats with painful, long-term medical conditions. It serves no medical benefit to cats and for the veterinarians who perform these operations, their only motives are greed. At the time of the film’s release (September 2013), Dr. Conrad and the rest of the dedicated Paw Project team members and supporters had been victorious in helping to pass declaw bans in eight California cities. That’s a great start, but it’s not nearly enough. It’s time to put an end to declawing for good. Everywhere.

Please, if you have cats, or if you consider yourself an animal activist, watch this movie. If you know someone who has cats, urge them to watch it, too. (It’s available on Netflix, as well as many other online platforms.) Its such an informative film and its messages so important! Share it with everyone you know and support The Paw Project and their initiatives to bring declawing to an end. Write to your state lawmakers and let them know that you want anti-declawing legislation passed for the well-being of the cats in your state. Get angry and for heaven’s sake, don’t stay silent. We must be the voices for the voiceless.

Have you seen The Paw Project? How do you feel about declawing? 

Documentary Junkie

When my husband and I were dating, we’d go to the movies constantly — two or three times a week wasn’t uncommon for us. We had few responsibilities and lots of expendable income and it was something we enjoyed doing together. Plus, on Tuesday nights, we got free popcorn at our local theater, and how could anyone resist that?! His mom used to call us Siskel & Ebert since we saw just about anything and everything that came out in theaters and people would always ask us for recommendations about what was worth seeing. These days, though, I’m just not that into movies anymore. I feel like I’ve taken steps backwards, in terms of my attention span — I just can’t seem to sit still for long enough to watch something that might make me laugh or cry or think, but more likely than not, will leave me saying to myself, “what a terrible waste of time that was!” It’s silly, I know. I should just be able to relax and enjoy a movie once in a while, but it’s just no longer my cup of tea and I can rattle off a dozen other things I’d rater do with my time. But, there is an exception to the rule: documentaries.

If you log in to my Netflix account, everything on the “recently viewed” list is a documentary or a Disney movie (because really, I’m just a big, nerdy kid inside and once in a while, I can muster up the 80 minutes or so that it takes to make it through a Disney movie). I think I’m drawn to documentaries so much because they satiate my seemingly endless appetite for knowledge and always leave me feeling like there’s something I can do to make this world a better place. Other genres of movies just don’t have that kind of power. I prefer films that inform, engage and empower and I can’t seem to get enough of them. I think I’m becoming a documentary junkie!

Here’s a rundown of some of the documentaries I’ve watched in the last few months. Just a head’s up… they’re pretty much all related to animals/animal welfare issues (no real surprise there, if you know me in “real life” or have followed me here on my blog for a while):

Food Inc.: A real eye-opener about the food industry as a whole — not just animal agriculture. The film focuses a good amount of attention on the global, environmental impact of our food choices, as well as the animal welfare and human health aspects. Even if you’re not a vegetarian or vegan and would never consider making that transition, I think this film will make you think long and hard about where your food comes from. But, that’s by no means a bad thing. Knowledge is power, people!

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home: Although this film is touted as a mild look at the going-ons of animal farming and claimed to have few graphic scenes, I still found some parts of this film to be extremely difficult to watch (granted, I do have a very low tolerance for graphic images of animal abuse). It was, however, very informative and I enjoyed learning about the animals that had been rescued from dire fates. The opening scene of this film is one that I think will stick with me forever: An image of a concrete angel statue with one wing broken off and these words scribed across the screen:

“We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

Wow! I found that line to be incredibly powerful and it still gives me chills when I read it. It speaks volumes about the interconnectedness of our world and the need for us to protect and empower one another. Think about that for a while.

Forks Over Knives: This one is mostly health-centered, but it’s chock-full of research and facts that demonstrate the incredible power that a plant-based diet can have on human health. This was one of the first documentaries about veganism that my husband watched, before he decided to give vegetarianism a try (he’s still going strong! 🙂 ), and I think it had a lot to do with his decision.

Vegucated: I loved the light-hearted, almost comical approach that this film uses to engage viewers. Three average New Yorkers, giving veganism a try for six weeks. The film is relatable on many levels and presents veganism in a “doable for everyone” kind of light. Environmental and animal welfare issues are touched upon, but I think viewers will appreciate the not-so in-your-face ways that they are presented. This is one documentary that I think appeals to a very broad range of audiences.

Beyond the Myth: If you’re a dog lover, particularly of the bully breeds, this film will infuriate you. It certainly had me shaking my head in disbelief throughout most of it. It just boggles my mind that BSL (breed-specific legislation) exists in our country and that some people think it’s perfectly okay to rip pets from their families and, in many cases, sentence them to death, based on a few, loosely-defined physical characteristics. Pets without bite histories or any cases of aggression are being made out to be monsters by the media and proponents of BSL and most of the stories presented in this documentary will rip your heart out. But, the film does give viewers some hope, as it highlights what opponents of BSL are doing all over the country to overturn this narrow-minded and ill-thought-out way of dealing with dog bite prevention.

Blackfish: It seems that everyone knows about this film and is talking about it, and that mainstream success has driven home its message… And it’s showing! Despite company officials declaring that the film has not affected their parks’ reputation, SeaWorld’s attendance has dropped since Blackfish’s release. I find it hard to believe that a film as damning as this one could not have an effect on SeaWorld, but even so, their numbers are down and they seem to be losing support left and right. And really, that’s what matters most, isn’t it — bringing about real, measurable change toward a better future for animals? Imagine the progress we could see in our world if ALL documentaries got as much exposure as Blackfish did.

There are a few other documentaries that are on my radar and I am planning on watching them sometime soon. The Ghosts in Our Machine, Speciesism, The Witness, The Cove and The Dogs’ Fighter are all in queue. And then there’s the biggie. The be-all and end-all of vegan documentaries:  Earthlings. I know this one has made a vegan out of many hard-headed carnivores, but it’s just not something I can bring myself to watch… At least not yet. Considering the fact that my husband literally threw his iPhone multiple times while streaming this film, I think I will have to pass. I don’t need to expose myself to all those images of animal torture and violence. At this point, I think I’ve read and seen enough to know that the ways that animals are treated for the sake of our food, entertainment or other gains, are horrendous and we have to keep fighting with all we’ve got to make a change.

How do you feel about documentaries? If you’re a fan, what are some of your favorites? Have you seen Earthlings?