American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) And Their Dirty Little Secret - City the Kitty

(The American Association of Feline Practitioners blocked us on Twitter.)

September 30,2019

The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) says that they are the trusted leader in feline health and welfare yet why do they want to keep the facts about declawing from the public and why do they allow their CAT FRIENDLY Practices to perform this inhumane and mutilating procedure.

Here’s a screenshot of a recent post they did on facebook in response to all the respectful and educational declawing comments on their social media pages.

————————————————————

The facts are that many of AAFP Cat Friendly Practices in America declaw cats.

We did a survey of 156 Cat Friendly Practices in 10 states in 2018 and found that 85% of them declaw cats.

One of the Cat Friendly Practices that we surveyed was the one where the 2018 President of AAFP works.

Here’s an excerpt from our survey,

“The Cat Friendly Practice where the 2018 AAFP President, Dr Paula Monroe-Aldridge, works is River Trail Animal Hospital and Pet Lodge in Oklahoma.

Researcher asked the employee for the price for a spay and the employee said $245. The researcher then asked for a price for a declaw. The employee said it’s $175 if you do the declaw with the spay or $299 for just the declaw.

Researcher asked which vet they recommend for the declaw who’s the most skilled at it and they said Dr Monroe.

Researcher asked if Dr Monroe does declaws regularly and employee said yes. The researcher asked about Dr Monroe’s skills with the declaw procedure and the employee reassured them and said that Dr Monroe is the current President of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and is very skilled with cats and is the “cat lady of all cat ladies.“

When asked what Dr Monroe uses to declaw, the employee said a laser. Researcher asked if the laser is better, the employee said, “It’s a different way of getting the nail out without causing damage.”

The employee said that Dr Monroe requires a consultation appointment to chat with you about the declaw and to let you know that it must be an indoor cat because if it ever gets outside it doesn’t have it’s claws to defend itself.

Researcher said they were concerned that they didn’t want to waste the time and money on the consultation exam and would they for sure be able to do the declaw after it and employee said, “oh yes.”

Employee asked if researcher wanted to make the appointment.”

Here’s the full survey- Cat Friendly Practices & Declawing

Here are many examples of how AAFP is trying to hide their dirty little secret about declawing.

1) AAFP hides and deletes respectful comments on their Instagram and Facebook pages that educate the public about the negative effects of declawing.

Here’s an example of one of the many comments that was deleted on AAFP’s @CatFriendlyHomes Instagram page. This comment was written by a veterinarian.

AAFP Deletes Educational Declawing Comments Story

AAFP Hides All Your Educational Declawing Comments Story

2) AAFP blocked us for respectfully shining light on the fact that many of their CAT FRIENDLY Practices declaw cats.

3) AAFP leaders change the narrative.

In 2015 we asked AAFP why they blocked us on social media.

We also asked them why they allow declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY Practices since their European equivalents, ICatCare.org, have never allowed declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY CLINICS..

They replied, “The AAFP does not have legislative power to “allow” (or disallow) any procedure.”

Fact- The AAFP does have the power to NOT allow declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY PRACTICES. AAFP 2015 Response

4) This story shows how AAFP protects their declawing vets over protecting the welfare of cats.

This is one of the many photos that this CAT Friendly Practice posted on their facebook page.

This is what this declawing vet, Dr Kramer had posted on her website, “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.”

Many people were writing respectful comments on this declawing vet’s facebook page for her to tell the truth about how declawing is performed and to stop advertising it on her facebook page.

This is the letter that the AAFP sent to a declawing vet who was promoting her declawing services on Facebook, lying about how it is performed on her website, and who even offered a free declaw as the giveaway at an adoption event.

AAFP letter to a declawing vet

This AAFP Cat Friendly Practice story

5) AAFP says that their Cat Friendly Practices and the International Society of Feline Medicine’s (ISFM) Cat Friendly Clinic’s criteria are virtually identical yet ISFM has never allowed declawing in their Cat Friendly Clinics.

ISFM’s Cat Friendly Clinic Criteria

—————————————————————————————————————————

Link to AAFP’s comment https://catvets.com/cfp/veterinary-professionals/getting-started

6) AAFP allowed a company to promote their product for declawing in their 2018 Conference.

7) In September of 2019, AAFP came out with new 2020 requirements for their CAT FRIENDLY PRACTICES.

AAFP- “The practice must educate clients on normal scratching behaviors and options for cats to exhibit appropriate scratching behavior in the home.”

From what we can see, they have NO requirements about educating clients about how declawing is bad for a cat.