In 2015 I reached out to the American Association of Feline Practitioners and asked them why they blocked me on their social media pages when all I was doing was asking this important question.
Why does AAFP allow declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY PRACTICES?
Also, I didn’t ask AAFP if they could ban declawing through legislation or in ALL veterinary practices in North America. I asked them why don’t they stop allowing declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY Practices which is something they could do if they wanted to, just like their European equivalents do with their CAT FRIENDLY Clinics.
Here is their response.
“Hi Lori,
First, let us start off by saying thank you for contacting us. Declawing is certainly a controversial procedure about which cat owners need to be educated. In fact, the AAFP recently updated our declawing position statement. The new position statement takes a strong position on educating cat owners that declawing entails amputations, and we provide extensive details of and recommendations for alternatives to declawing. The statement places an unequivocal focus on veterinary professionals having an obligation to educate cat owners on the anatomic details of what a declaw entails, alternatives to declawing, and the inherent risks and complications of the procedure.
The stance of our association, and one we work to communicate to professionals and cat owners, is that declawing is NOT a medically necessary procedure for cats in most instances (i.e., cancerous lesions of a toe bone would be a rare instance where amputation of that digit is required). We are also in the final stages of producing a brochure for cat owners that outlines and clearly emphasizes the alternatives to declawing. This brochure will be published on our website this month; we’d be happy to send you an electronic version as well as some printed copies if you’d like them.
Last but not least, let us clearly state that the mission of the AAFP is to improve the health and welfare of cats—all cats. The AAFP does not have legislative power to “allow” (or disallow) any procedure.
The AAFP has a Social Media Disclaimer and Moderation policy which we ask all to adhere to for those that utilize our site. While it is our intention to never to hide content or block individuals from our page, if content violates our policy, we reserve the right to remove that content and may block the offending user.
Again, we thank you for your passion of and interest in the welfare of cats.
All the best,
Susan Little, DVM, DABVP (Feline)
AAFP President
Paula Monroe, DVM
Feline Welfare Committee Chair
Heather O’Steen, CAE
Executive Director
American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP)
390 Amwell Road, Suite 402
Hillsborough, NJ 08844
Phone: (800) 874-0498 Fax: (908) 292-1188 “