Story published Jan. 27, 2023

UPDATE. April 9, 2023.

This bill passed through the Senate and has a Hearing Scheduled in the Government Efficiency and Downsizing–(8:00 a.m. – HR 6) on April 12.

We spoke with Rep. Jim Murphy on April 6th and he said he’s not going to stop Sen. Justin Brown’s bill and he will support it because he doesn’t think that local government should regulate the course of veterinary medicine.

We asked him if he would introduce a bill to ban declawing statewide and he said he might do that and would entertain that idea and to send him the info. He said he couldn’t introduce it until January. He said he loves animals. Please email Rep. Jim Murphy and ask him to introduce a bill to ban declawing in the state of Missouri.

Phone 573 751 3719. Email. Jim.Murphy@house.mo.gov

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UPDATE FEB. 7, 2022.

This bill was voted on in the Senate committee and passed 6-1.  Senator Jason Bean now has the power to move this bill on Thursday, Feb. 9th, to the Senate for a full vote.

 The following Republican Senators voted YES to move this bill that will overturn the St. Louis and St. Louis County declawing bans and prevent any future declawing bans:

Senator Justin Brown (sponsor of SB 115) justin.brown@senate.mo.gov

Senator Jason Bean, Chair jason.bean@senate.mo.gov
Senator Rusty Black, Vice-Chair rusty.black@senate.mo.gov
Senator Mike Bernskoetter mike.bernskoetter@senate.mo.gov
Senator Jill Carter jill.carter@senate.mo.gov
Senator Sandy Crawford sandy.crawford@senate.mo.gov
Please send them a polite note and asked them why they want this animal cruelty (declawing) to continue.
The only Senator who voted to protect innocent cats from being declawed and to not move this bill was Senator Tracy McCreery tracy.mccreery@senate.mo.gov
Please send her a note and thank her for caring about the welfare of all innocent animals.
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Story. Jan. 27, 2023.

Senator Justin Brown is sponsoring Senate bill 115 and Rep. Jim Murphy is sponsoring House Bill 801, and these bills will erase the declawing ban in St. Louis and St. Louis County and will prohibit any future declawing bans in cities in Missouri if they pass.

(On April 6, Rep. Jim Murphy said that he is not going to move his bill but will support Sen. Justin Brown’s bill.)

Yes, you heard right.  Senator Justin Brown and Jim Murphy are trying to eliminate bills in St. Louis & St. Louis County that are protecting cats from this animal cruelty and will prevent any future bills from passing that would protect cats from this cruelty in Missouri cities.

These bills were made under the weak excuse that they will protect the veterinary profession from government overreach but the awful truth is they were specifically made to overturn the bans on declawing and to prevent any more bans in other cities in Missouri.

Leaders with the veterinary medical associations claim, what’s next? A group might want to ban spay and neutering. This is all fear mongering and smoke and mirrors folks.

Declawing is a non-therapeutic and mutilating amputation procedure that causes cats to be relinquished to shelters and often killed because they have behavioral issues like not using the litter box and biting from the pain and discomfort in their mutilated paws and no one wants to adopt them.

That’s why all these weak excuses from the veterinary medical associations that it’s not good for government to tell them how to practice medicine is hogwash. Declawing is below the standard of care in vet med, that’s why all the big ethical companies are taking a stand to protect innocent cats from it and are banning it. It doesn’t belong in the scope of veterinary medicine anymore. Declawing is below the standard of care in veterinary medicine.

Spay and neutering are considered therapeutic because it prevents certain cancers, there are some health benefits to them, and helps with the overpopulation of animals and is the only way of preventing too many animals from getting killed in the shelters.

By the way, declawing was banned in NY state in 2019 and there have been NO BILLS introduced to ban spay and neutering or to take away any other procedures from veterinarians. That’s all just smoke and mirror excuses to pretend like they don’t want gov. overreach and it’s to stop declawing bans.

A declawing bill would be equivalent to having bills to ban surgical procedures like boob jobs for 15 year old girls or plastic surgery on young children because some unethical medical doctors are doing those procedures to kids for profits.

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If you are one of Senator Justin Brown or Rep. Jim Murphy’s constituents, please send them a polite email or call and let them know that you aren’t happy with them for doing this.

Ask Sen. Justin Brown if he is trying to protect a valuable source of revenue for his family’s vet clinic that is performing 3-4 guillotine clipper declaws a week according to a long time employee who works there. (This is the most mutilating method of declawing. The employee also said they don’t send the cats home with any pain meds.)

Justin Brown. 573 751-5713  Email- Justin.Brown@senate.mo.gov

Rep. Jim Murphy 573 751 3719.  Email- Jim.Murphy@house.mo.gov

 


This might explain why Sen. Justin Brown is sponsoring this bill.

(As you read these shocking details about declawing at his family’s vet clinic in Rolla, MO, remember these words that Sen. Justin Brown wrote in a post on his facebook page on Jan 27, 2023., “As the son of a veterinarian, the protection of animal health and welfare was ingrained in my heart as a child.”)

Missouri Senator Justin Brown ‘s father was former Missouri state Sen. Dan “Doc” Brown.

Senator Dan “Doc” Brown passed away on May 11, 2021, at age 70.  “Doc” Brown was a veterinarian and worked at and owner Brown Veterinary Clinic in Rolla, MO.

A long time employee at this clinic said Doc Brown worked there until he died in 2021. His wife Kathy still owns this clinic.

An employee at Brown Veterinary Clinic said that Dan “Doc” Brown was their main surgery guy and used to do their declaws along with Dr Angie Winfrey.

Employee was asked if “Doc” Brown did a lot of declaws and the employee said, “Yep.”

The employee said that Dr Angie Winfrey does their declaws and she uses the clipper (guillotine) method to declaw the cats. (The clipper method is the old school and most mutilating method.)

The employee said that a two paw declaw is $125 and if you want a 4 paw declaw it’s an additional $125 and said that the cats stay two nights after the declaw.

When asked about the recovery at the clinic, the employee said they have to be confined so they don’t “bust the scabs open.”

The employee said the cats walk a little gingerly on their feet for about a week then after that they start healing up and doing better and they are a little “ouchy” for a little bit.

They said that they give the cat an injection at the hospital and that helps with pain for a couple days but they don’t give any take home pain meds because they said there’s not too much out there that is tolerable.

The employee said Dr Angie Winfrey does a lot of declaws on Fridays and the cats stay the weekend and said they probably do 3-4 declaws a week.

Winfrey is a member of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). https://www.movma.org/members/?id=26092767

When asked if the cats are ok long term after their declaws, the employee said they haven’t had any problems with the healing part. The employee said they usually don’t do all four feet declaws.


The majority of veterinarians in Missouri declaw cats.

Most of them are members of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association (MOVMA).

Senator Justin Brown received $5200 from the MOVMA.

Sen. Justin Brown posted this on his facebook page on Jan. 31, 2023.

“Honored to receive the 2023 Distinguished Legislative Leadership Award on Saturday from the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association. As the son of a veterinarian, the protection of animal health and welfare was ingrained in my heart as a child. I look forward to continuing my work with the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association during my time in the Legislature.
My son Brody even won one of the raffle prizes. Brody is currently attending the vet school at Mizzou.”

 


The other legislator who is sponsoring House Bill No. 801, is Rep. Jim Murphy.

Jim Murphy is in a  St. Louis Today story about this bill in 2022 and it said, “Murphy, a south St. Louis County Republican, said the local bans overstep the bounds of regulating animals. “It’s the state’s responsibility to license and decide what’s proper for veterinarians to do,”

 Is Jim saying that municipalities can’t and shouldn’t regulate animal cruelty?

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/fur-flies-over-attempt-to-clip-st-louis-cat-declawing-ban/article_e989034b-c325-5fbb-aeee-92730f14b4af.html

 

 

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We sent Senator Justin Brown some questions for this story but haven’t heard back yet. Here they are:

1)  Some people might think that you’re protecting a valuable source of revenue for your family’s vet practice. How would you respond to this?
2) Some people might think that you are protecting a cash flow over protecting animals. How would you respond to that?
3) Knowing that declawed cats lose their homes because they stop using the litter box and often start biting, how can you explain to taxpayers that you would rather use their dollars to have declawed cats killed than for other important issues?
4) Your bill will put an unfair burden on the shelter system in MO by allowing declawing to continue. How would you respond to that?
(In the states and cities where declawing was banned, the amount of cats in shelters actually dropped.  The data, stats, and facts are in my facts vs myths section below.)
5) Are you familiar what the various methods of declawing, and how studies have shown the guillotine method to be the most inhumane and mutilating for a cat?
6) Have you read this peer reviewed study on how declawing causes behavioral issues and back pain among other things? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X17705044
Have you heard about this study that shows declawing causes chronic stress in cats?  https://citythekitty.org/study-shows-that-declawed-cats-have-chronic-stress/
Since you are sponsoring this bill that would keep this inhumane and mutilating amputation procedure legal in MO, how much research have you done on the procedure?
7) The Missouri Veterinary Medical Association donated $5200 to you. The majority of veterinarians in MO perform and profit from this cruel, inhumane, and unnecessary amputation procedure and the MVMA exists for their member vets who pay dues to this organization. All these declawing vets want to keep this good revenue source going. Some would also say that you are trying to carry on your father’s legacy by trying to keep declawing legal for all the declawing vets in MO and for your family vet clinic. How would you respond to this?
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We sent Rep. Jim Murphy some questions for our story but haven’t heard back yet. Here they are:
1)  Some people might think that Sen. Justin Brown is protecting a valuable source of revenue for his family’s vet practice and you are helping him. How would you respond to this?
2) Some people might think that Sen. Brown is protecting a cash flow over protecting animals and you are helping him. How would you respond to that?
3) Knowing that declawed cats lose their homes because they stop using the litter box and often start biting, how can you explain to taxpayers that you would rather use their dollars to have declawed cats killed than for other important issues?
4) Your bill will put an unfair burden on the shelter system in MO by allowing declawing to continue. How would you respond to that?
(In the states and cities where declawing was banned, the amount of cats in shelters actually dropped.  The data, stats, and facts are in my facts vs myths section below.)
5) Are you familiar with the various methods of declawing, and how they all involve amputating the last toe bone in a cat’s paw and are all mutilating and cause long term negative issues to a cat’s health and well being? Do you know that studies have shown the guillotine method to be the most inhumane and mutilating for a cat? Many vet clinics in MO use the guillotine method.
6) Have you read this peer reviewed study on how declawing causes behavioral issues and back pain among other things? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X17705044
7) Have you heard about this study that shows declawing causes chronic stress in cats?  https://citythekitty.org/study-shows-that-declawed-cats-have-chronic-stress/
Since you are sponsoring this bill that would keep this inhumane and mutilating amputation procedure legal in MO, how much research have you done on this amputation procedure?
8) The St. Louis Today story said, “Murphy, a south St. Louis County Republican, said the local bans overstep the bounds of regulating animals. “It’s the state’s responsibility to license and decide what’s proper for veterinarians to do,”
Are you aware that most of the big veterinary organizations have banned declawing because of how inhumane and mutilating it is for a cat and how there are always humane alternatives? Are you aware that declawing is banned in 42 countries and not performed in most of the rest of them?  Are you saying that municipalities can’t and shouldn’t regulate animal cruelty?
9) The Missouri Veterinary Medical Association donated $5200 to Sen. Justin Brown. The majority of veterinarians in MO perform and profit from this cruel, inhumane, and unnecessary amputation procedure and the MVMA exists for their member vets who pay dues to this organization. All these declawing vets want to keep this good revenue source going. Some would say that Senator Brown is trying to carry on his father’s legacy by trying to keep this cruelty legal for all the declawing vets in MO and that you are helping him. How would you respond to this?
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch did a story in March, 2022 about these bills. Fur lies over attempt to clip St. Louis cat declawing ban story

Here’s another long time MOVMA member vet who is supporting these bills to overturn the ban on declawing in St Louis and St Louis County.  Dr James Crago says that declawing needs to be a discussion between the vet and the client about what’s best for the cat. (Declawing never benefits a cat.) https://www.movma.org/members/?id=26093103