How we tried to inspire the director/founder of the ANNA Shelter to stop providing declawing in her WELLNESS Centers.

We applaud all the tireless work that the director/founder, staff, and volunteers of The A.N.N.A Shelter do to help animals in Erie, PA.
Unfortunately The ANNA Shelter also performs declawing in their WELLNESS Centers.
As far as we know, there are only 2 animal shelters in America that perform and profit from declawing in their Wellness Centers/Clinics. The other one is the Houston Humane Society.
Declawing is inhumane, mutilating, and always harms the long term health and well-being of a cat.
Are declawing veterinarians contributing to more COVID-19 deaths? Read this story.

There are around 26,000 veterinary practices in America.
Around 21,000 of these practices declaw cats.
Most of these declawing vet practices are still using much needed PPE (masks, gloves, and gowns) to declaw cats and perform elective procedures despite national efforts to conserve this protective medical gear and despite the calls from the AVMA, state veterinary associations, healthcare organizations, hospitals, and state officials, to cease all routine surgeries and services.
These declawing vets are putting profits first and also defying nationwide pleas for sheltering in place, by allowing their clients to come to their clinics for these elective, non-therapeutic procedures.
These declawing vets are using precious PPE to declaw cats and this cruelty towards cats could contribute to more COVID-19 deaths.
Banfield & VCA Animal Hospitals Stopped Declawing in Early 2020

We believe that every pet owner has the responsibility for providing a safe and supportive home for their animal that enables appropriate expression of natural behaviors and fully integrates them into the home and family. Every medical procedure supported by our veterinary practices has been put in place with the health and wellbeing of pets in mind and, based on this, we do not support the elective declawing of any animal in our veterinary practices.
Declawing includes surgical onychectomy, digital flexor tendonectomy, and generalized phalangectomy for non-medical reasons. Feline scratching and nail sharpening are normal behaviors and the removal of nails has been shown to lead to chronic pain and, in some cases, to cause long-term behavioral issues. We believe that education of pet owners about appropriate behavioral and environmental modifications are humane alternatives to these elective procedures.
Fewer than 4% of West Michigan vets don’t declaw and they are apparently afraid of being bullied for making the ethical decision.

Fewer than 4% of Western Michigan vets don’t declaw. We reached out to them to ask if they would write up a short paragraph as to why they don’t declaw cats but none of them replied.
Could it be that they are afraid of being bullied for making the ethical decision.
California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) Delegate’s Views About Declawing
May 2019 This is a story about a veterinarian, Dr Jerry Owens, and his opinions about declawing. Owens, 72, will be the President of the American Veterinary Medical History Society in two months and is a California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) member and delegate for Marin county. He worked 7 days a week up […]
Why are VCA Animal Hospitals in America Still Declawing Cats?

We reached out to VCA on their Instagram account on April 22, 2019 and asked them when are they going to stop declawing. A VCA representative told us that VCA stopped declawing a couple years ago. Surely VCA wouldn’t lie to us would they?
How The CVMA and the California VMB Stopped The 2019 Cat Protection Bill

Multiple animal medical and welfare organizations have issued statements against declawing, including the American Association of Feline Practitioners, the American Animal Hospital Association, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. Fourteen jurisdictions have seen fit to ban the procedure. Even a major veterinary hospital chain, VCA, stopped declawing a year ago throughout Canada.
Now it is time for California to pass this important legislation and join the worldwide humane movement against declawing.
2 out of 30 Veterinary Colleges In America Still Provide Declawing in Their Clinics. 1 Of Them Is An AAHA Accredited Animal hospitals.

Here’s our story about how all the veterinary colleges in America address declawing. Out of these 30 American veterinary schools, 10 of them don’t perform declawing at their small animal hospitals, according to employees at their hospitals.
The Anna Shelter’s WELLNESS Centers in Erie, PA Finally Stopped Declawing

Let us start by saying that The Anna Shelter in Erie, PA. does a lot of great things for animals. We applaud them for this. Their shelter director, Ruth Thompson, has dedicated her life to saving animals.Unfortunately they also declaw cats at their West and East Erie and Corry, PA, Wellness Centers and they condone declawing for their shelter cats. The Anna Shelter is an Adoption Partner at Petsmart in Erie, PA. The manager at this Petsmart was asked if PetSmart is ok this the Anna Shelter declawing cats and condoning it for their shelter cats. He said, “Yeah, nothing against it.”
Lies about declawing from A Cat Hospital in Nevada.

Story published Nov. 2018 UPDATE Feb. 2021. This is an AAFP CAT FRIENDLY GOLD PRACTICE. AAFP announced in Dec. 2020 that they will no longer allow declawing in their CAT FRIENDLY Practices in July 2021. This is one of the many examples of why we MUST ban declawing and why WE must educate the […]