An Okanagan woman is praising a recent ban on cosmetic tail docking of dogs, horses and cattle in B.C. after seeing the impacts of the procedure on her dog.
Cheryl Milroy said her dog Ava was healthy and happy until a few months ago when she noticed her four-month-old Morkie was having issues with her tail.
“She’d be happily playing, running around and all of a sudden she would just stop and start growling and snapping at her tail and she would lick and lick and lick,” Milroy said.
When her dog, Ava, was taken to veterinarian Dr. Moshe Oz in West Kelowna, Milroy was told the change in behaviour was likely due to a procedure she had as a puppy.
“He did examine her and said there was an infection in the end of her little stump and that it was due to tail docking as a puppy,” Milroy said.
Milroy didn’t know Ava had undergone the procedure.
Last week, B.C. veterinarians voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning the practice which involves removing part of an animal’s tail.
READ MORE: B.C. vets ban tail docking of dogs, horses and cattle
Dr. Oz is in favour of the ban himself, saying the risks of the procedure are high and not worth it.
“There’s a huge risk for bleeding and infection… and there’s always risk of phantom pain so there is some kind of sensation in the nerve, because we’ve cut the tail completely. So it’s like amputating a person’s leg,” Dr. Oz said.
Oz said tail docking is still allowed in certain cases, when it’s a non-cosmetic, medical need.
“We are allowed to do it if there is any kind of medical or surgery need for it, such as if a dog or cat was bitten in the tail and we have some kind of fracture and we need to do it medically, we absolutely are allowed to do that,” Dr. Oz said.
None of those medical reasons applied to Ava whens she was born.
She’s now left waiting to see if pain medication will help and if not, surgical intervention might be needed.
~ With files from Cole Deakin
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