Following recent victories ending the practices of declawing in cats and ear cropping and tail docking in dogs, the BC SPCA is calling on the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia (CVBC) to enact a similar ban on canine devocalization.
Devocalization, commonly referred to as “debarking”, involves partially or fully removing a dog’s vocal cords to muffle or eliminate barking. The surgery is performed by accessing the tissues through the mouth or directly through the larynx.
“Barking is normal canine behaviour,” says Dr. Emilia Gordon, senior manager of animal health for the BC SPCA. “Devocalization deprives dogs of an important form of communication.” Not only can this cause them significant stress, but devocalization fails to address the underlying reasons why dogs bark in the first place. This means that debarked dogs are still motivated to bark.”
In some cases, Dr. Gordon says, dogs are put through the surgery only to have their vocal cord tissues re-grow and their ability to bark return to near-normal levels. Even if the procedure is successful at reducing or preventing barking, dogs are at risk of complications, including bleeding, swelling, infection, coughing and gagging.
Long-term complications include chronic coughing or gagging, aspiration pneumonia, and airway narrowing and scarring, which can lead to noisy breathing, respiratory distress, exercise intolerance, heat intolerance and collapse.
