“I feel like I have failed you”

I received this sad note from an awesome woman who really cares about the welfare of cats. It’s really sad that this cat cruelty and abuse is happening in around 80% of veterinary practices in America. It’s hard to believe that all those declawing vets took an oath to EASE the suffering in animals yet are causing it by amputating the toe bones and claws in around 5000 cats a DAY in America.

Declawing A Cat Is NOT “Cat Friendly”

An American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Cat Friendly Practice, recently posted a video on facebook of a ragdoll kitten that was just declawed and said he is doing “great” after having his toes amputated. Here is a screenshot of the video that was posted on June 15, 2017.
This vet has declawing info on her website that says, “The declaw procedure is a surgical removal of the claw. Contrary to rumors and misinformed sources, declawing is not the removal of any of the actual toe itself, just the claw.”
This is a complete lie.

We Must Educate The Old School Veterinarians About Declawing

City the Kitty sitting on a Desk

June 2017 I’ve come to the conclusion that we are the ones who need to educate the old school vets about the truth and facts about declawing. The younger vets that are deceiving cat owners about the facts about declawing, most likely know the truth but don’t want to lose the income from amputating cat […]

Declawing Ban Saves Cats Lives

In addition, statistics from the Los Angeles Animal Service Department indicate that there was no significant change in absolute numbers of cats adopted from our city shelters in the five years after the declaw ban as compared to five years prior to ban. Furthermore, as a ratio of cat intake, the adoption rate has gone actually increased. I can confidently state that the declaw ban did NOT have a negative effect on cat adoption in Los Angleles city shelters.

Cease and Desist Letter For Trying To Educate A Property Management Company About Declawing

” Please cease and desist calling my client. It is my understanding that you call every day. ” Wrong and a total lie! I wasn’t calling everyday. In fact, since March 20th, I tried to call once a week and then a couple times this week.
Their lawyer said in the email that I was, “harassing my client and such harassment is against the law.” He went on to tell me that if I persist in my, “telephone harassment”, then his client will “file complaints with local law enforcement, and the appropriate law enforcement agencies” where I live.
The phone messages that I left simply asked to call me back, said who I was, and that I wanted to talk about their declawing policy with the appropriate person who sets their pet policy. I never once left harassing phone messages or demanded anything.
Their lawyer also went on to say that they will, “also will file complaints with the FCC and seek to have you retrained from sending further e-mails.”

I Was Bullied For Not Declawing A 7 Year old Cat

Dear City, So my story goes like this… In 2015, I declined to perform a declaw on a 7 year old cat. The husband and wife wanted me to declaw their cat who they were afraid would jump into their newborn babies crib and scratch it.  She was still pregnant and they didn’t want to […]

My vet, friends, and family started recommending that I look into getting them declawed

They also taught me that contrary to popular belief, cats CAN be trained to used appropriate scratching posts and that declawing is 100% unnecessary.

Lastly, and most importantly, they taught me that saving a couch, drapes, and carpet can never replace saving a life…..the life of a cat whose chances of making it out of a shelter alive drastically decreases if it doesn’t have claws on its paws.

It is time to make a change

My decision to stop doing this surgery now is that other veterinarians will hopefully follow the new position statement from CVMA and stop declawing cats. As fewer and fewer veterinarians perform this procedure there is less of a concern that clients will go somewhere else and less concern that the surgery is not being done properly with the appropriate pain control.

The demand for this procedure comes from the public, and veterinarians should not be the only ones at fault . Cat owners need to stop asking us to do this procedure and we need say no and provide alternatives.

Clairabelle, the declawed kitty who is suffering from her amputations

In 2015 I adopted a 5 year old calico that was front paw declawed. She was declawed with her spay surgery.
I was told that she is a pure breed straight ear Scottish fold.
I picked her up in a freak snowstorm at 4 am because her former owner was leaving on vacation and would be dropping her at the vet for euthanasia if I couldn’t get her that morning. They said she was having cat pan issues. I was certain I could help her and I fell in love with the pictures they sent me of her. I’m happy to say that we never had any pan issues.
She is getting older and I noticed that her right leg was sensitive sometimes after she would jump down off the furniture. Lately, she is limping most of the time. I can feel a pointed piece of what I think is bone in her sore toe.
She is a love bug but when she is hurting she will gently bite my hand while I’m checking her feet. I love her dearly and I know she was destined to be my baby for the remainder of her days

West Virginia, Please Ban Declawing And Save Cats From This Cruelty

Quote from West Virginia pro-declaw veterinarians, “You are right when you state there are those who would like to make declawing illegal. Many of those opinions have been formed by misinformation and what I call “internet-hype.” When performed properly, the declaw procedure results in no harmful side effects. In our experience, the cats have no higher incidence of any behavioral problems, which is in direct contrast to some of the fabrications that are now circulating. “