Will AAHA’s 2024 Practice of the Year Be Another Declawing Animal Hospital?

AAHA’s 2024 Practice of the Year Contest is here! Let’s vote for the no-declaw animal hospitals! There are 20 finalists. Three of them perform declawing.

In 2023 there were 4 finalists for AAHA’s practice of the year. Three of them did not declaw cats. AAHA chose the declawing clinic as their 2023 Practice of the Year.

The Organizations That Allow Declawing

Here are many examples of those in the veterinary profession and some outside of it, who could truly help to end the inhumane procedure of declawing, but aren’t.

The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association Is Trying To Keep Animal Cruelty (Declawing) Legal.

The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association wrote in their Sept. 1, 2023 newsletter, “PVMA is involved in working behind the scenes to prevent a declaw ban from moving in the legislature. This is a tricky issue, but it would be bad precedent to have the state government decide what procedures we cannot perform on our clients animals.”
The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association doesn’t want to regulate their veterinarians even when it comes to this animal cruelty.

The Secretary of the Houston Humane Society is Still Performing 2 & 4 Paw Declaws at Her Houston Clinic

Dr Cynthia Rigoni is the Secretary of the Houston Humane Society.
Dr Cynthia Rigoni has been doing declaws for over 25 years. According to an employee at her clinic, she also has declawed her own dogs. More information below in our story.

In 1991, a cat owner came to Dr Cynthia Rigoni’s All Cats Veterinary Clinic in Houston, TX for just a neuter.
Dr Rigoni performed the neuter and then started to declaw the cat. On the third toe bone, she realized she was performing an unauthorized procedure but she kept declawing the cat and then notified the owners of the “error.”

According to the veterinary medical board paperwork below, she committed gross malpractice and her license was suspended for 2 years.

Is Missouri Senator Justin Brown protecting a valuable source of revenue for his family’s veterinary clinic by sponsoring a bill that would erase the declawing ban in St. Louis & St. Louis County & would prohibit any future declawing bans in MO?

Senator Justin Brown is sponsoring Senate bill 115 and Rep. Jim Murphy is sponsoring House Bill 801, and these bills will erase the declawing ban in St. Louis and St. Louis County and will prohibit any future declawing bans in cities in Missouri if they pass.  The bills have made it past a few steps and is in a Senate hearing on Jan. 31, 2023 to send it to the floor for a vote.

Yes, you heard right.  Senator Justin Brown and Jim Murphy are trying to eliminate bills in St. Louis & St. Louis County that are protecting cats from this animal cruelty and will prevent any future bills from passing that would protect cats from this cruelty in Missouri cities.

If you are one of their constituents, please send them a polite email or call and let them know that you aren’t happy with them for doing this. Ask Sen. Justin Brown if he is trying to protect a valuable source of revenue for his family’s vet clinic that is performing 3-4 guillotine clipper declaws a week according to an employee who works there. (This is the most mutilating method of declawing. The employee also said they don’t send the cats home with any pain meds.)

Sen. Justin Brown. (573) 751-5713  Email- Justin.Brown@senate.mo.gov
Rep. Jim Murphy 573 751 3719.  Email- Jim.Murphy@house.mo.gov