You all are sending me lots of sad and appalling examples of how AAHA’s lack of accountability for declawing is harming thousands of cats and why we MUST ban declawing. Many of these AAHA vets make great money declawing cats and they will never do the right thing in regards to this inhumane procedure because the money is more important to them.
Other than 8 cities in California, declawing is a legal, mutilating procedure that cat owners can have done to their cats and veterinarians can do as many as they want. It’s a sad fact that AAHA veterinarians that support declawing can do anything they want in regards to declawing. They can lie to cat owners and tell them it is completely fine and their cats will be back to normal. They can promote declawing with coupons. They don’t have to require the cat owner to buy pain meds for their declawed cats. And AAHA veterinarians can even talk cat owners OUT of using the humane alternatives. All these examples are sadly happening in AAHA hospitals throughout North America, and more.
Even though AAHA says this in their official declawing position, “The American Animal Hospital Association strongly opposes the declawing of domestic cats and supports veterinarians’ efforts to educate cat owners and provide them with effective alternatives.” But they do tell people that “position statements are separate from standards.”
WHY IN THE WORLD DOES AAHA EVEN HAVE THIS DECLAWING POSITION IF THEY HAVE ZERO STANDARDS FOR IT AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR DECLAWING AT THEIR HOSPITALS??????????
In 2013 they even put out a new mandatory dental standard that requires AAHA practices to only do dentals with anesthesia. [button href=”http://www.aaha.org/blog/post/981150/Just-the-facts-AAHAs-new-dental-standard.aspx” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] AAHA Dental standards[/button]
Why won’t AAHA put in any mandatory standards for declawing? Instead of using their valuable time making “Declaw Communications Toolkit” to help their vets who support declawing stay under the radar from people who are against this mutilating, non-therapeutic, elective, and inhumane procedure, why aren’t they working on standards of care for declawing so that cats are being unnecessarily tortured and harmed by this evil procedure?
Here’s an AAHA hospital in Illinois that did a post on their facebook page last summer, to show you how they amputate kitties toes and then try to “heal” their mutilated paws with their healing laser.
I ask this to AAHA. How can a cat be doing “great” after having at least 10 different amputations on their paws? 
I was very concerned about how this AAHA hospital was addressing declawing so my FBI (Feline Bureau of Investigation) team reached out to this AAHA hospital a few times on different days this week and spoke with different employees. They asked questions as first time cat owners and wanted to know about getting a 2yr old and 5 month old cat declawed. They wanted to know if declawing was bad for their kitties and asked for advice from these veterinary professionals at this best of the best AAHA veterinary hospital. A place that a cat owner would get the best advice one could expect from a veterinary hospital.
NOT ONCE DID ANY OF THE EMPLOYEES MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT THE HUMANE ALTERNATIVES OR EDUCATE THE “FIRST TIME CAT OWNER” ABOUT EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO DECLAWING as AAHA RECOMMENDS.
Employee 1 said this. You would have to make an appointment for a “wellness exam” and to establish a Doctor/patient relationship. Total for both cats $122. They say the only reason you might not be able to get your kitty declawed was if there was something wrong with their blood work and they wouldn’t be fit for the anesthesia. They said they declaw the kitties the “surgical way” and all their doctors are qualified and have done plenty. They say they will bandage your kitties paws and use their therapeutic laser to try to decrease the inflammation and makes the healing process quicker, (in other words try to repair the mutilation that they caused.)
When the first time cat owner said that they had read horror stories on the internet that declawing was bad for a kitty, the nice employee said that, “your pet will be just fine, the horror stories are that they end up taking them to the low cost places and they don’t do all the pre-surgical blood work so they can handle the anesthesia.” They say it takes around 2 1/2 weeks to be back “totally normal.”
The employee asks do you want do all for or just the front two. This first time cat owner asked what they recommended. Employee said “generally we do just the front claws” and the fees are $436.32 for the 5 month old and $492.87 for the 2 yr old. This employee said they leave it up to the owners preference if they want two or four paws and a lot of owners keep the back claws for defense mechanism in case their cats were to get out. They say, “it’s up to the owner in the long run what route you want to go but they will be fine either way in the healing process.” It’s $505.27 for the all four declaw they say and it’s up to you.
Employee 2 told the first time cat owner that 6 months of age is a good start to do a declaw since they have grown enough to handle the anesthesia. They say that’s the youngest they would do the declaw. They said, “We like to keep them a night or two after the surgery just to make sure they keep their bandages on and the healing process starts correctly, that’s a major step in the quick healing process.”
When asked how they declaw the kitties, they say “we just remove the first digit.” When asked if their cat’s will be ok, they say all 6 of their doctors are well trained in performing the declaws. They say that most clients just get the front paws done since that’s what they use to claw at the furniture. When the cat owner asked if it is inhumane or bad for a cat since they saw some horror stories about how cats are harmed by being declawed, they say, “That’s on an opinion basis per se and the animal rights activists mostly think it’s inhumane because you are taking off the digits of their fingers. But it’s been in veterinary practice and it’s still done upon a clients preference or decision. We don’t judge or anything if you want to get your cat declawed, we won’t say no.” Cat owner said they are still confused if it is ok to declaw their kitties employee said, “if you want to read more into it on the internet that’s totally up to you. Like I’ve said we’ve done plenty, many, many before.”
The American Animal Hospital Association came out with a revised declawing position in October that “strongly opposes declawing.”
They have 900 standards of care for procedures and the way their hospitals must be run. But they have NONE for declawing. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.
These are supposed to be the best of the best veterinary hospitals in North America where pet owners should feel confident that they are getting the best advice and best medical care for their pets.
Yet AAHA has no accountability in how their vets address declawing and it isn’t mandatory that vets follow AAHA’s declawing position.
The majority of AAHA hospitals declaw cats. Here is more about AAHA’s declawing position [button href=”https://citythekitty.org/aaha-double-standard-no-accountability-for-declawing/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] AAHA and Declawing[/button]
AAHA recently put out a Declaw Communications Toolkit for their vets so they can “In order to help practices be prepared for potential controversy, AAHA has created the Declaw Communications Toolkit.”
They are HELPING their hospitals, that declaw cats, stay under the radar and say the right things yet they don’t care if their vets advertise declawing, deceive cat owners, not require pain meds for two paw declaws, talk cat owners out of the humane alternatives, do 5 declaws a day, and the list goes on. [button href=”https://www.aaha.org/professional/membership/declaw_communications_toolkit.aspx” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Declaw Toolkit[/button]
AS USUAL I MUST REMIND YOU OF THIS DISCLAIMER.
Please don’t threaten anyone involved with these stories. We must do the right thing and take the high road and be respectful. It is wrong to threaten them in any way plus they will twist things around and play the victim. We know that the only victims are all the kitties that are being unnecessarily and cruelly declawed. We MUST continue to shine light on this cause and share all of these stories so that we show the truth about what is going on. We MUST continue to educate cat owners who are being deceived by their pro-declaw vets and who are NOT being told about how declawing is amputations and not good for the health and well being of their cats, how it is inhumane and very painful, and how there are humane alternatives that they can use instead of declawing.
The way that we make positive change is through peaceful and respectful actions and words. When you lash out and are threatening, it hurts our important cause and makes us all look bad, and in turn saves less kitties from this very cruel and inhumane procedure they call declawing.
Also, I’ve reached out to 3 influential people at AAHA, letting them know about these AAHA hospitals and how they are addressing declawing and deceiving cat owners about declawing.
The pr person for AAHA, their influential leader of media appearances who was on the AAHA board of directors and is now their Staff Veterinary Adviser for Professional and Public Affairs, AND their new 2016 President.
None of them have returned my emails and nothing has changed at the hospitals I’ve told them about that are deceiving cat owners about declawing, promoting their declawing, or other unethical things involving declawing. (One exception. The AAHA Cleveland Park Animal Hospital where Dr Andy Roark works, instead of touting how great their laser works for declaws and how many cats they declaw and that cats will be fine after being declawed, they now say that you must first have a FREE consultation with a doctor to go over all the alternatives to declawing first. Most likely this positive change was because of Dr Roark inspiring them to do the right thing and not because AAHA reached out to them.) Story about this practice is at the end of this story. [button href=”https://citythekitty.org/imbeingcyberbullied/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] I’m being cyber bullied and I’m not saying this for attention[/button]