Best of 2020 – Dr. Jennifer Conrad, The Paw Project

This episode is sponsored in part by Doobert.com, and KittySift. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Conrad, who founded The Paw Project in 1999, joins Stacy to discuss the organization's mission to end declawing in the U.S. & Canada, using education, research, and legislation. The Paw Project is made up completely of veterinarians and the group compiled the evidence, drafted the legislation, composed the language of the legislation, built the coalition of support, and obtained the representatives for every law prohibiting declawing in the U.S. Stacy and Dr. Conrad discuss the surprising way Dr. Conrad became interested in ending declawing and educating people everywhere on its devastating effects on cats. "Declawing is a misnomer," Dr. Conrad tells Stacy. "It is really more appropriately called de-knuckling. It is the amputation of a toe bone." They discuss the behavioral issues of biting and litter box avoidance that declawed cats have been shown to be prone to, and they talk about the organization's new "Claw-Friendly" certification for veterinary practices that do not perform declaw surgeries. With legislation banning declawing passed recently in New York, and more bills in the works around the country, Dr. Conrad encourages listeners to join The Paw Project's mailing list to stay in the loop on action needed regarding legislation in their area. She notes that, "There is a reason that we need to ban declawing: It actually saves cats' lives … If we could get these bans all across the United States, we would be saving millions of cats' lives." To learn more, visit The Paw Project's website.  You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or check out their documentary, The Paw Project on the App Store, Google Play, YouTube, and Amazon Instant.