AAHA Is Slowly Coming Around: No-Declaw Hospital Wins Top Honor. Now It’s Time to Ban Declawing in 2025!
On August 12, 2025, AAHA announced their 4 finalists for AAHA’s 2025 Practice of the Year.
3 of them declaw cats. One of them even advertises their laser declawing on their website and minimizes the long term suffering and risks to the cat’s health and well being. https://www.bluespringsanimalhospital.com/hospital/surgery
What Every AAHA Con 2025 Attendee Should Know & Why AAHA’s Idea of Excellence Includes Cat Cruelty
More than 4,500 practices representing 50,000 veterinary team members pay thousands of dollars to the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA.org), a company that allows a barbaric, antiquated, and inhumane amputation procedure (declawing) so they can be branded as hospitals that deliver quality medicine, embody the “gold standard” of excellence, and raise the bar for the veterinary profession.
This deceives pet owners into believing accreditation guarantees excellence.
Why Does AAHA.org Lie About Declawing, Put Profits Over The Welfare of Cats, And Allow Declawing In Their Animal Hospitals?
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) updated their declawing position statement in June 2021.
They say they strongly oppose declawing, explaining that declawing is no longer a reasonable or supported procedure… But then they say if veterinarians are going to declaw, they should use pain meds before, during, and after.
No Mercy for Cats: AAHA’s Failure to Stop Allowing Declawing Shows Money Matters More Than Cat Welfare
Cat mutilation and torture masquerading as the best in veterinary medicine: Many of AAHA’s Standard of Excellence Accredited Animal Hospitals declaw cats. AAHA allows their accredited animal hospitals to declaw cats for profit, advertise their declawing services, and lie about it to their clients and to the public. They also allow their veterinarians to submit […]
Will AAHA’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jessica Vogelsang, Be Able To Inspire AAHA to Ban Declawing in their hospitals?
In 2021 AAHA.org hired a new Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jessica Vogelsang.
AAHA says that they are strongly opposed to declawing, that veterinarians should tell their clients that it is a procedure that is no longer supported or reasonable yet they allow it in their AAHA Accredited Animal Hospitals. Many of them perform this inhumane amputation on a regular basis, they advertise declawing, put out declawing coupons, and lie about it and say that the cats are ok long term after they are declawed.
We are optimistic that Dr Vogelsang will be the progressive, ethical, and humane veterinary leader at AAHA who sees the value in doing the right thing, being on the right side of this issue and history, and will inspire AAHA to put the welfare of all animals first and ban declawing in their AAHA accredited animal hospitals.