GUEST: Dr. Jennifer Conrad is the founder of The Paw Project, which educates the public about the painful and crippling effects of feline declawing and actively advocates to legally ban declawing at the community and state level. She is currently working in Southern California with nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries for unwanted and abused animals and administering her own company, Vet to the (Real) Stars, which provides humane veterinary care to animals appearing in television and movies. Dr. Conrad has spent more than two decades working on six continents to protect and improve the lives of wild animals. She is a graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and is a member of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, and the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians. MAIN QUESTION: What can animal welfare organizations do to make sure efforts to ban declawing of cats are successful? TAKEAWAYS: * If you would like to see legislation banning declawing in your state or community, be sure to reach out to the team at Paw Project – Pawproject.org – which can help you with airtight language for your proposal. This is important because it’s easy to have proposed legislation get amended with exceptions that make it worse than no new legislation at all. It’s better to kill such bills than let them be passed, where they could enshrine into law the practices you are trying to end. * State veterinary medical associations tend to be the only ones to oppose declawing bans. They are trade organizations concerned primarily with the financial wellbeing of businesses, not with what’s best for the animals. * Veterinary medical associations have pushed a number of myths and outright lies. These include:     ~ Myth: Declawing is necessary to protect babies and seniors with thin skin from being scratched. The truth is that declawing makes cats far more likely to bite. A cat scratch is a relatively minor issue but a bite can be much more serious because they more easily lead to infection. For this reason, the CDC does not recommend the declawing of cats to protect human health.     ~ Myth: If declawing it not available, cats will be dumped at shelters by people in even greater numbers. This can be demonstrated as untrue in two ways. First, nearly all animal shelters oppose the declawing of cats because they know it results in behavioral issues such as urinating outside the litter box and biting – that really are common causes for cat surrenders to shelters. Second, the documented results of declaw bans show that shelter admissions decline after the practice of declawing is eliminated in a community. * The best thing animal shelters and rescues can do to support a proposed ban in your state is to write a letter in support of banning declawing on your own organization's letterhead and send it to the legislators – including the bill sponsors. Such letters are used in the “bill analysis” when legislators first see the proposal. It demonstrates support to legislators that makes it more likely they will back the legislation. LINKS: * The Paw Project or email info@pawproject.org * For Nevada residents to comment on proposed declaw legislation:     ~ Select bill AB209 https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/81st2021     ~ Email the bill's sponsor Assemblywoman Susan Martinez with "AB209 SUPPORT" in the subject line at Susan.Martinez@asm.state.nv.us * Leadership recommendation: Future Fundraising Now blog and newsletter