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The Feline Welfare
Committee of the American Association of Feline Practitioners
was formed to
better address feline-only welfare issues important to the AAFP
membership, and to formulate Position
Statements on relevant welfare issues. Our necessary first step was to
establish the following General
Principles of Feline Welfare to serve as a template for all
future Position Statements issued by the AAFP.
The Feline Welfare Committee of the AAFP is committed to the welfare of
all cats and the membership of the
AAFP.
Feline Welfare Committee
Chair: William Ray Folger DVM,
MS, ABVP(Feline)
Committee Members: Rachel Addleman DVM; Catherine E. Buck DVM;
Julie Dinnage DVM;
Kate F. Hurley DVM, MPVM; Julie Levy DVM, PhD,
ACVIM; Karen Lovelace DVM; Sheilah
Robertson BVMS(Hons), PhD, DECVA,
DACVA, MRCVS; Ilona Rodan DVM, ABVP(Feline);
Wendy Simpson DVM; Roy Brenton Smith DVM; Vicki Thayer DVM, ABVP(Feline);
Mike Westfall DVM,
MBA
Mission Statement
It is our moral, ethical,
philosophical, and professional responsibility to respect, protect,
and promote the
welfare of cats. The function of the Feline Welfare
Committee is to examine feline welfare issues and develop
responses
and position statements where appropriate.
General Principles of Feline
Welfare
- Animal welfare principles are
derived from moral, ethical, philosophical, and cultural
considerations. In
specific circumstances, animal welfare may be
measured and evaluated by the scientific method. The
AAFP
recognizes that construction of scientific models must have
inherent moral and ethical values
incorporated into them, and that
subjective evaluations are almost always necessary in the
implementation
of the scientific process.
- The AAFP endorses the
internationally recognized "Five Freedoms": A. Freedom from
hunger, thirst, and
malnutrition. B. Freedom from physical and
thermal discomfort. C. Freedom from fear and distress. D.
Freedom
from pain, injury, and disease. E. Freedom to express normal
patterns of behavior as long as it
does not cause injury to them
or another species.
- The AAFP endorses the
internationally recognized "Three R's" applied to the use of
animals in research:
A. Reduction in the number of animals. B.
Refinement of experimental methods. C. Replacement of animals
with
non-animal techniques.
- The AAFP believes that all cats
should be provided the opportunity to live out their natural
lifespans in
accordance with the Five Freedoms.
- A high priority should be placed
on ending the destruction of cats for animal control purposes.
- The AAFP recognizes that cats are
sentient animals. This distinction requires that all diagnostic,
medical,
and surgical procedures must be performed in such a way
as to minimize distress, anxiety, pain, and
suffering. The AAFP
considers this a moral and ethical imperative. If it is
anticipated that any diagnostic,
medical, or surgical procedure
will cause pain, then appropriate and effective pain management
should be
initiated prior to, during, and after the procedure.
- Physical handling of cats should
be performed in such a way as to minimize distress, anxiety, pain,
and
suffering.
- When necessary and appropriate,
cats should be provided a benevolent and humane death.
- It is the responsibility of
veterinarians to recognize, correct, prevent, and report cruelty,
abuse, and neglect
of all animals.
- The AAFP recognizes there are
significant disagreements among animal welfare experts about what
animal welfare is in the first place, and these disagreements are
largely ethical in nature. The AAFP recognizes that these
arguments are constantly changing and controversial as well.
- The AAFP is determined to
constructively cooperate with all of the relevant stakeholders in
the animal welfare arena. This includes animal welfare scientists,
ethicists, philosophers, veterinary professional organizations,
academic and industrial institutions, animal welfare
organizations, and regulatory agencies.
- All offical documents produced by
the AAFP including Guidelines, Panel Reports, and Position
Statements
must express consistent animal welfare principles.
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