I’m very surprised, disappointed, and saddened to hear that declawing is a routine procedure that is performed by the 3 veterinarians, on the popular Animal Planet TV show, The Vet Life. Their employees tell cat owners that there are no negative consequences to declawing a cat and they don’t educate cat owners about how harmful and inhumane this procedure is or counsel them about the humane alternatives like nail trims, soft paws, and sturdy scratchers. They say that cat owners can just book an appointment for the procedure.
I want to try to inspire these vets to be role models for the veterinary profession and have a humane and ethical approach to declawing. They have a national audience and it would be nice if they did a piece in the show about educating cat owners on the humane alternatives and why declawing is harmful to cats and show that they honor their oath to ease the suffering in ALL animals instead of causing it when they declaw cats.
Screenshot of a clip from the Animal Planet’s “The Vet Life” tv show in May 2017 of someone from this vet practice waving at a declawed cat.
In early May, 2017, I started receiving notes and emails from my supporters about a new tv show on the Animal Planet called, “The Vet Life.”
People were upset about a short clip on a recent episode from this tv show of someone from this vet practice, Cy Fair Animal Hospital in Cypress, Texas, waving at a declawed cat in a cage.
So I had my mom respectfully reach out to the vets from this show in an email. She asked them about the clip and how they address declawing at their practice. She asked them if they would want to join forces with us to help end this barbaric procedure in N. America? She told them they would be such a positive part of cat history by helping to end the harmful and mutilating procedure and that they would be heroes.
We waited and waited for a reply. She called three receptionists and managers in the last 3 weeks and each of them said they would pass along the email to the vets. One of the receptionists said that my mom could make an appointment for a consultation to talk about this but that the vets are very busy. She told them that we don’t live in Texas and asked if they could just take 2 minutes to give us an answer to the email.
I wasn’t able to get an answer on how Dr Blue, Dr Lavigne, and Dr Ross address declawing at their Cy Fair Animal Hospital but cat owners who called this practice found the following.
First time cat owners called to get a price for a spay/neuter and declaw for their kitten. First time cat owner asked if there is anything else they recommend to have done for their kitten. One employee at Cy Fair Animal Hospital said, “We do declaws if you like and we can do that at the same time as the spay.”
An employee said their method of declawing is with forceps, a scalpel, and sutures. They have no age limit for declaws. They charge $326-494 for a front paw declaw/neuter and all 4 paw declaw/neuter is $375-489. They use Purina’s Yesterday’s News for their declaws. (Please sign my petition to Purina to inspire them to help us educate the public about declawing with some of the millions of dollars Purina is making from declawing.) Link to the petition- http://bit.ly/PurinaPetition
Cat owner asked if a declaw was ok to do to their cat and they thought that a vet wouldn’t do anything to harm their cat. The employee agreed and said, “Oh no man.”
Cat owners asked if the vets are skilled at the declaws. One employee said, “They all are pretty good at them and they do them pretty often here.”
Another employee said that the vets do them often and sometimes up to 5 declaws a week. Another employee was asked if their vets are skilled at them and they said, “Yes, we’ve done a couple within the week.” Another employee said they do “multiple declaws and we just just had a kitty leave the other day from getting a declaw.”
Cat owners asked the employees if there are any negative, long and short term consequences to declawing. One employee said, “No, he (the cat) will be fine.”
Another employee said, “An owner will do the front paws if they are concerned about being scratched or they don’t want their furniture to be scratched.” They said that the only thing negative is that they are taking nails away from a cat that was born with them but that there are no “abnormalities” from declawing them.
Another employee said, “Some people think it’s inhumane but others like it because it doesn’t mess up their couches so it’s your preference.”
Declawing is a legal procedure in America except for 8 cities in California. These vets were on the Steve Harvey show and said they have a “passion for educating pet owners” yet none their employees educated the cat owners on the phone calls, that it was an amputation procedure or about the humane alternatives to declawing.
None of the employees said declawing can cause negative behavioral issues such as biting, aggression, and peeing out of the litter box. None of the employees talked about the humane alternatives like nail trims, sturdy scratchers, soft paws, etc.
Please help me respectfully inspire these well known vets to help us educate the public about this inhumane, mutilating, and unnecessary procedure so that we can save cats from a lifetime of pain and suffering from having their toe bones and claws amputated. Here is the email to their practice on Instagram and Facebook or here is their email- frontdesk@cyfairanimalhospital.com
Or you can reach out to the Animal Planet on facebook, instagram, and twitter.
Will you also please be a part of cat history and help me educate the public about declawing and sign my petitions. They only take around 30 seconds to sign each one. http://bit.ly/MyPetitions
C