March 2021
They came out with a DECLAW COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT to help their declawing animal hospitals. AAHA Declaw Communications Toolkit
What did AAHA do after we published this story about how their 2020 Animal hospital of the year declaws lots of cats? AAHA 2020 Declawing Hospital of The Year
AAHA sicced their lawyers on us to force us to take down lots of their declawing information. It’s pretty pitiful and appalling that AAHA just doesn’t want to do the right thing and put the welfare of cats first. AAHA Sicced Their Lawyers on City the Kitty
We are trying to find out who sets the policies at AAHA.
AAHA recently updated their board of directors.
We looked into how each of their AAHA hospitals address declawing in Sept. 2020. AAHA 2021 Board of Directors
- President Pamela Nichols, DVM, the owner of AAHA-accredited Animal Care Daybreak in South Jordan, UT. They don’t perform declaws. She is completely against declawing and told us, “I’m fairly certain that we are currently working on a new position statement.” She also said, “AAHA staff told me that they would be communicating directly with you and that I should step out, since I am not an employee of AAHA and no one person on the board can speak for the board.
I support your mission and purpose, I wish you well. I am just a volunteer leader, trying to do my part to help change vet medicine one day at a time.” (The folks at AAHA never got back with us.)
- President-elect Adam Hechko, DVM, the owner and medical director at North Royalton Animal Hospital in suburban Cleveland, OH. They don’t perform declaws.
- Vice President Margot Vahrenwald, DVM, the owner of Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center in Denver. They don’t perform declaws.
- Director Scott Driever, DVM, the owner of Animal Hospital Highway 6 in Sugarland, Texas. They don’t perform declaws.
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Director Dermot Jevens, DVM, Upstate Vet, Greenville, South Carolina. They don’t declaw cats.
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Director Mark Thompson, DVM owner of Country Hills Pet Hospital, Eden, WI. (UPDATE Oct. 2021. This animal hospital no longer declaws cats.)
They have been an AAHA accredited hospital since 2000 and were the AAHA Practice of the Year in 2018.
Photos from Country Hills Pet Hospital’s facebook page Sept. 14, 2015. A photo of a little black cat that says, “Little Monkey is our pet of the week. She is just so darn cute & loved getting attention from the staff while she was here for her spay/declaw.”
They posted another photo of a grey cat on March 16, 2015 that said, “Cali is our pet of the week this week! She was such a sweet kitty when she was here for her spay/declaw!”
https://www.facebook.com/CountryHillsPetHospital/photos/a.188764437707/10153584479172708
https://www.facebook.com/CountryHillsPetHospital/photos/a.10152303824547708/10153116952907708
An employee says a spay and a 4 paw declaw is $900-$950. Asked about a surgeon that is skilled at declaws and knows what they are doing. Employee said yes, “We do spays and declaws a lot.”
Employee said they only have one vet who declaws and it’s Dr Mark Thompson. He uses a laser. The employee was asked if the laser is better and why. The employee said yes, it’s less painful , heals better, and is a little less of a invasive way of doing it because it’s a cleaner cut and the laser cauterizes it as it’s cutting and it definitely helps in the healing process.
The employee said that Dr Thompson does one or two and month and said, “he does them pretty frequently.”
When asked if it’s ok long term and the cats are not limping and the employee said yes, they haven’t seen many issues with the laser but there is always that side effect that can happen, but the kitties that he declaws tend to have a good recovery.
Researcher said there’s lots on internet that says declawing is bad for a cat. Employee said the cats can have “effects” from a declaw and they like to try to prevent doing them. They said there are other options like nail caps and frequent nail trims to try before the declaw however they do understand that sometimes a declaw is necessary.
- Recording on Country Hills Pet Hospital’s phone recording says that they are proud to be a member of AAHA, a distinction that is shared by only 12% of vet hospitals in the US, and they voluntarily have their hospital evaluated by trained consultants who certify that they comply with the associations high veterinary standards, and it’s their way to demonstrate their commitment to quality pet care.