“Yes, They Do Them All the Time”: The AVMA Elects Two Declawing Veterinarians to Top Leadership Roles
On July 11, 2026, at the AVMA convention in Anaheim, CA. the AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) unanimously elected Dr. Robert Knapp as its 2026-27 president-elect and Dr. Elizabeth Boggier as its vice president.
“Yes, they do them all the time, yes.”
That was the response in September 2025 from an employee at Knapp Veterinary Hospital in Columbus, OH, the vet clinic owned by newly elected AVMA President-Elect Dr. Robert Knapp, when asked whether the clinic’s veterinarians perform cat declawing often.
One employee said all their veterinarians—including Dr. Robert Knapp—perform laser declaws, adding they are done “Monday through Friday.” Another employee said that all four of their doctors can do a declaw/spay and it just depends on what day of the week it is.
AVMA’s Credibility in Crisis: Leaders With Financial Ties to Declawing Shape Policy, Prompting Calls to Rename It the “American Veterinary Money Association”
Story published on October 21, 2025. (Petition to the AVMA. AVMA Petition Update January 2026. In a sharp January 2026 Letter to the Editor in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, experts from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association Pain Committee condemn the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) House of Delegates for refusing to take […]