LAKEWOOD, Colo., July 25, 2025 — The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) introduced “groundbreaking new Standards of Accreditation” calling them a “historic milestone” in elevating veterinary care in their press release.
Yet, AAHA’s new standards merely “discourages” nontherapeutic declawing, ear cropping, and devocalization, allowing their accredited hospitals to continue these practices without penalty.
Critics, including City the Kitty nonprofit, label this a hollow PR move to protect AAHA’s brand while prioritizing revenue from their declawing hospitals over animal welfare.
In 2016, AAHA’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jessica Vogelsang, wrote, “tail crops, ear docks, declaws, and debarking for any reason other than the health of the pet should go the way of the dodo.”
After joining AAHA in 2022, Dr Vogelsang now calls these non-mandatory standards a “monumental moment.”
“We continually assess our Standards to ensure they are aligned with current best practices across the profession,” Vogelsang said. “This is truly a monumental moment, so please celebrate with us, our members, our clients and, most importantly, the patients that depend on us.”
Despite her earlier anti-declawing stance, AAHA’s flexible point-based system lets clinics bypass the anti-declawing standard, undermining claims of “excellence.”
AAHA’s failure to ban declawing is a betrayal of the animals they claim to protect,” City the Kitty said. “They’re protecting their image while letting their declawing member hospitals continue business as usual.”
Critics question whether Vogelsang’s authority is curtailed by AAHA to preserve revenue from their AAHA hospitals that perform and profit from declawing, a procedure condemned for causing chronic pain and behavioral issues.
AAHA Board President Dr. Scott Driever said, “At AAHA, we know that one of our core strengths is in our standards of accreditation. I am proud to be part of an organization that feels strongly enough about our position statements to now include them as part of our standards.”
Yet, City the Kitty nonprofit countered, “If non-binding, non-mandatory ‘standards’ that allow AAHA hospitals to continue mutilating and harming cats are what AAHA considers a ‘core strength,’ then this isn’t ethical leadership—it’s a PR stunt to protect AAHA’s brand, not to protect cats.”
The hypocrisy is stark: in 2013, AAHA mandated a ban on non-anesthesia dental cleaning procedures for animal welfare, but its 2015 declawing position revision avoided a similar mandate.
Also, one of AAHA’s Mandatory standards that all their animal hospitals must follow is, “Practice team members demonstrate humane care of animals.”
Does AAHA believe that declawing veterinarians are demonstrating humane care of cats when they barbarically chop, slice, or burn off a cats much needed toe bones and claws?
Here’s a recent example of how an AAHA declawing hospital is harming and mutilating innocent cats, including older cats. AAHA even allows their hospitals to lie about declawing, to advertise their declawing services, and they allow their declawing vets to advocate to stop the anti-declawing legislation.
Many AAHA animal hospitals are still declawing cats in 2025 and many of them will continue to declaw cats, even after these non-mandatory standards are put in place on December 1, 2025.
Meanwhile, 12 major veterinary companies, including VCA Animal Hospitals and Banfield Pet Hospital, have banned declawing outright. In 2020, VCA Animal Hospitals decisively stated to all their vet clinics, “At the core is our firm belief that we must always do the right thing for our patients and we can no longer support declaw procedures in cats unless there is a medical reason,” adding that “patient safety and welfare always come first.”
VCA and these 11 other companies backed up their words with a mandatory policy to protect cats from the cruelty and harm of declawing, allowing it only for medical reasons like neoplasia or infection.
Meanwhile, AAHA says this on their website, ” That vision lives on in AAHA’s mission is to elevate the standards of small animal care through accreditation and ongoing initiatives.From the very beginning, AAHA has been a trailblazer, setting the bar for excellence and evolving alongside the veterinary industry” which is not true when it comes to declawing. These 12 veterinary companies, who banned declawing, have elevated the standards of small animal care and are trailblazers who evolved and set the bar for excellence.
AAHA’s non-mandatory standards merely “discourage” declawing, leaving room for their accredited animal hospitals to continue declawing without penalty. AAHA’s hollow claim of a “monumental moment” rings false, as their failure to enforce a ban undermines their commitment to animal welfare, prioritizing clinic revenue and AAHA’s revenue from their declawing hospitals over cats’ well-being.
“This isn’t a monumental moment—it’s a missed opportunity,” City the Kitty nonprofit said. “Cats deserve real protection, not press releases and point systems.”
AAHA’s 2021 President, Dr. Pam Nichols, an opponent of declawing, was reportedly silenced in 2021 by AAHA from engaging in respectful discussions with City the Kitty nonprofit about declawing, raising questions about who truly controls AAHA’s policies—and whether financial ties to declawing hospitals are the driving force.
“If AAHA really believed what Dr. Vogelsang is saying—that animals deserve the highest quality care—they wouldn’t allow declawing, debarking, or ear cropping at all,” City the Kitty said. “It’s appalling that AAHA’s so-called veterinary leaders are making decisions that directly affect animal welfare, yet continue to allow barbaric procedures like declawing.”
Please sign City the Kitty nonprofit’s petition to AAHA- https://www.change.org/p/aaha-stop-putting-profits-over-the-welfare-of-cats-and-ban-declawing-in-your-hospitals
Readers are encouraged to contact AAHA at Standards@AAHA.org, Dr. Jessica Vogelsang at Jessica.Vogelsang@AAHA.org, and CEO Dr Guylaine Charette at Guylaine.Charette@aaha.org and ask why AAHA banned non-anesthesia dental cleanings in 2013 but refuses to mandate bans on declawing, ear cropping, and devocalization like many other humane veterinary companies have done.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-Also, please copy and paste this note and email it to the AAHA “leaders.”
Key concerns and questions:
- 1) Why does AAHA “discourage” declawing yet allow it, unlike 12 major veterinary groups (e.g., VCA, Banfield, FelineVMA) that banned it outright?
- 2) What distinguishes “discouraged” from “expected to forgo” in your standards, and are there consequences for non-compliance?
- 3) Why did AAHA mandate a ban on non-anesthesia dental cleanings in 2013 but not on declawing, despite acknowledging its harms?
- 4) In 2016, Dr. Jessica Vogelsang, now Chief Medical Officer, wrote, “tail crops, ear docks, declaws, and debarking for any reason other than the health of the pet should go the way of the dodo.” Has her stance softened since taking a high-paying role, or is someone at AAHA limiting her authority to protect innocent cats from this animal cruelty?
- 5) AAHA Board President Dr. Scott Driever called non-binding standards a “core strength.” How is allowing cat mutilation a strength or aligned with “best practices”?
- 6) Are these vague standards designed to appease declawing hospitals and veterinarians and preserve membership fees and revenue for accreditation?
AAHA’s claim of “setting the standard” is undermined by its failure to ban declawing, a practice VCA rejected in 2020, stating, “We can no longer support declaw procedures in cats unless there is a medical reason… patient safety and welfare always come first.”
[Your Name]”
Contact:
Wendy Cobrda,Sr. Director Membership & Strategy – Standards@AAHA.org
Chief Medical Officer- Jessica.Vogelsang@AAHA.org
CEO- Guylaine.Charette@aaha.org
More at CitytheKitty.org
Here’s more about AAHA and declawing. https://citythekitty.org/why-does-aaha-org-choose-profits-over-the-welfare-of-innocent-cats/
Here’s our latest story about AAHA and how they handpicked 9 AAHA hospitals that declaw cats for finalists in their 2025 Practice of the Year contest. https://citythekitty.org/9-declawing-aaha-hospitals-were-handpicked-by-aaha-consultants-for-their-2025-practice-of-the-year-contest-and-praised-as-delivering-gold-standard-care/