The long time declawing veterinarian at Purdue University’s AAHA Accredited Small Animal Hospital is Dr. Lori Corriveau. Her bio says she practices and teaches feline friendly handling and restraint.
How is declawing FELINE FRIENDLY?
Declawing is inhumane, cruel, and harms the long term health and well-being of a cat.
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) is strongly opposed to declawing yet they allow it in their accredited animal hospitals. In 2013 AAHA stopped allowing nonanesthetic dentals in their hospitals. AAHA’s 2015 Declawing Position
Please sign our petition to Purdue. Purdue declawing petition.
Here’s our story, “Is Purdue’s declawing vet being paid by a laser company?” Purdue’s Declawing Vet and Aesculight
Here’s the link to Purdue’s declawing veterinarian’s course schedule where it says she uses their laser for, “Pain free declaws.” Purdue says Dr Lori Corriveau does pain free declaws
Update September 2021. One of our researchers called Purdue’s small animal hospital and asked for the cost of a declaw. The employee asked, “Are you wanting the front declawed or the back?”
They said, “The doctors will want to talk to you before any type of declawing so that you understand psychologically what that does to animals.” They go over information about a declaw in the exam. The declaw is done in Primary Care and they would only do the front or the back, they won’t do all four at the same time. Dr Lori Corriveau does their declaws.
A front or back declaw is $332-$350 and an all four declaw is $455- $500.
The recording on Purdue’s phone says Purdue is ranked number 5 as the most innovative school in America by U.S. News and World Report. Most vet colleges are stopping declawing because they know how bad it is for a cat.
Update Feb. 2021 – We made a phone call to ask for the cost of a declaw at Purdue Small Animal hospital and found they are still declawing cats on two and four paws.
They say that Dr Corriveau and Dr Thompson do the declaws. When asked if they do them regularly, the employee said, “Oh yea.”
Update Oct. 2018
When a researcher called for a price for a spay/declaw at Purdue Small Animal Hospital, the employee asks, “are you doing just front declaw or all four declaw?”
The spay/4 paw declaw is $500-$600. They do both methods of declawing, scalpel and laser and laser declaw is around $100 more. The researcher asked for the most skilled vet for the declaw and the employee said Dr Corriveau does the declaws through their Community Practice Dept. The employee said that Dr Corriveau is very skilled at the declaw and said ” she does those all the time.”
The researcher asked if the laser is better and the employee said that she had to have the front paws declawed on her cat and Dr Corriveau did the laser declaw for her cat and her cat “did excellent.” The employee said it’s worth the extra $100.
The employee said that you can just bring in the vaccine paperwork and drop the cat off for the procedures and pick the cat up the next day. When asked how long does the recovery take the employee said that the first day he was all bandaged but after that he was “walking a little gingerly but he was fine, but a couple days later he was running and jumping and playing. The researcher asked if their cat would be ok long term and the employee said that she has had no issues with her declawed cat.
When asked why the laser declaw is better, the employee said it is less pain and less blood loss. (Laser declawing is no better than the other mutilating ways. #8 in our declawing facts section. https://citythekitty.org/declawing-facts-vs-myths-humane-options/ )
Photo of laser declawed cat toe bones and claws posted on Instagram by a veterinary professional. (The cat toes were not declawed at Purdue Veterinary Wellness Clinic)
This story was published in Feb. 2017
Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine doesn’t include feline declaw surgery in their clinical curriculum at all. Students are not taught how to do it, they don’t include this surgery in their “junior surgery” class where models are often used, and it is not performed in their hospital.
The UK’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons equates declawing with “mutilation.”
Purdue says on their website that declawing rabbits is not recommended. Link to this info. Rabbit info
Purdue Veterinary Wellness Clinic says they do “pain free declaws” with their CO2 laser. They tell cat owners that declawing with a laser is “very non-invasive.”
Dr Corriveau’s bio was edited and they took out the pain free declaws and wrote this. “Dr. Corriveau works with our students performing elective surgery on exotic pets. She specializes in surgical CO2 laser use for pet lumpectomies and also the use of therapy lasers to alleviate pain and improve healing in pets. Dr. Corriveau also practices and teaches feline friendly handling and restraint. Dr. Corriveau’s hobbies and interests include CO2 laser surgery,…” Link to her edited bio. Purdue’s declawing vet bio
Here is the declawing info that Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine has on their website in 2017. UPDATE. This information has been removed.
Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine even suggests the declaw option to their “Kitten’s Wellness Visits” on their 5th visit on this PDF on their website. (This information has been removed.)
The Purdue Small Animal Hospital was called by our researchers in 2017 who asked for the cost of a declaw, what vet they recommend, and if declawing is ok for a cat.
The hospital said that they just require a note from your vet to make sure your cat is up to date on its shots before they can do the declaws.
We have withheld the names of employees for fear that they might suffer a backlash for their honest answers.
Employee said that Purdue Small Animal Hospital only has two vets that will declaw cats. Dr Corriveau does the laser declaws and Dr Rochat does the “regular declaws.” (with a scalpel) Scalpel declaws are around $200 and a laser declaw is around $325.
When asked why the others vets won’t do declaws, employees at the hospital said, “because the other vets don’t agree with it.” Another employee said that the other vets, “feel it’s harmful to a cat.”
Dr Corriveau does the laser declaws and employees at the hospital say that “she does those a lot” and another employee said that she does declaws “quite often.”
3 employees at the hospital stated that Dr Corriveau’s laser declaw is the pain free way.
When asked if Dr Corriveau ever has complications with her declaws, one employee said, “Not normally. The laser is very non-invasive and that’s the best way to do it.” Another employee said the laser declaw is the “less invasive” way.
On one call, the researcher asked the cost for a declaw for an 8 month old cat and 1 1/2 yr old cat. As far as the aftercare, one employee said that the 8 month old kitten only needs to use Yesterday’s News cat litter for two days, but the older cat, 1 1/2 yrs old, they recommended using it for a little bit longer because there are sutures involved because they are full grown and there is more weight on the paws. They said that you would have to buy the Yesterday’s News because they don’t carry it there.
One employee was asked if the kitten would be ok after a declaw and if it was inhumane. The employee said it was a decision that the cat owner would have to make but that the laser is a lot more humane then the old way, and said kitten would be ok.
NONE OF THE EMPLOYEES AT THE PURDUE SMALL ANIMAL HOSPITAL MENTIONED THE HUMANE ALTERNATIVES OR THAT DECLAWING WAS BAD FOR YOUR CAT.
WE REACHED OUT TO DR CORRIVEAU IN AN EMAIL TO ASK HER ABOUT HER “PAIN FREE DECLAWS” AND WHY PURDUE VETERINARY COLLEGE HAS NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE HUMANE ALTERNATIVES TO DECLAWING AND OTHER QUESTIONS, BUT NEVER RECEIVED A REPLY.
Here’s our story about American veterinary colleges and declawing. Declawing at vet colleges
Please sign our petition to Purdue. Purdue petition
UPDATE Feb. 2021
Purdue is building a new $108 million dollar veterinary hospital. Here’s the story. New Purdue veterinary hospital
The new hospital will be named David and Bonnie Brunner Purdue Veterinary Hospital in honor of their $10 million dollar “leadership commitment.” According to the story, David Brunner is the owner of the Broad Ripple Animal Clinic. BRAC has nine full-time veterinarians and is one of the 15% of hospitals in the U.S. accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association.
We looked into how Broad Ripple Animal Clinic, also an AAHA Accredited Animal Hospital, addresses declawing. The employee said that their vets do declaws fairly regularly. A spay/2 paw declaw is $575- $695. They don’t use laser for the declaws because their medical director, Dr Bill Neumann, feels the laser is not accurate, according to an employee.
They do 4 paw declaws and said not everyone gets those the employee said. They use laser therapy after the declaw and said it is warm, stimulates the blood flow on their wounds on their paws, and increases healing.
When asked if declawing causes any problems for cats and the employee said, “Oh no.”
Our researcher asked if declawing is ok for a cat and they said, “Our vet’s position is that it is ok.” The vet they were referring to was their medical director, Dr Neumann.
This hospital also has a CAT FRIENDLY Practice logo on the bottom of their website. AAFP banned declawing in their practices and all of them must stop performing this inhumane amputation procedure in July 2021. Broad Ripple Animal Clinic Website