Story Published on March 5, 2022
UPDATE July 2026.
Some Thrive Pet Healthcare clinics are still declawing cats and Thrive Pet Healthcare did not respond to our emails about this issue.
Bloomingdale Animal Hospital. IL
May 2026. The employee said, “That we try not to do unless medically necessary.” Researcher asked like if someone doesn’t want to get scratched and the employee said yes, and said a declaw is an amputation of bone and said they don’t usually do them “unless the person has medical necessity to proceed with that like a bleeding disorder” but said they don’t do them very often. Researcher asked if they require a note from a doctor for a declaw and the employee said no, they take your word for it.
Jan. 2026. The employee said they usually avoid do a declaw because it’s an amputation of the last digit, it’s pretty painful and cause lifelong issues like urinary issues so they try not to do it, and it is a last resort. They recommend other methods like nail trims and training not to scratch. They said they try the other options and don’t recommend it but after an exam they could potentially do it.
Grace Veterinary Clinic. Chatham, IL
The employee said that they do not perform declaws. Researcher asked if Thrive banned it and the employee said no, and said they have had doctors in the past who are comfortable doing them and it’s up to the specific doctors and their current doctor doesn’t do them.
River Heights Veterinary Hospital. Oswego, Illinois. AAHA Accredited Animal Hospital
May 2026. Phone recording talked about as an AAHA hospital they are being committed to the highest level of veterinary medicine and compassionate care of and their mission is to help pets live healthier lives.
Researcher asked for the cost of a neuter/declaw and the employee asked, “Was it two paw or four paw declaw?” The employee said that the doctor can give an estimate for the neuter/declaw at the time of the exam but said they would check and put the researcher on hold. They came back and said a neuter is from $300-$500 and a declaw, depending on if it was 2 or 4 paw, it would be from $350 to $750. They said Dr Elizabeth Pocius, their Medical Director, does their surgeries on Fridays.
Researcher asked if the cats are ok long term after a declaw and the employee said, “Yea, they just have to stay rested.” Researcher asked if she does them regularly and the employee said, “It’s not real regular, but she does do them.”
Jan. 2026. Researcher asked if they perform a declaw and the employee said, “Yes, we do fronts.” They said you need an exam with their doctor, Dr Elizabeth Pocius DVM, Medical Director, and said they could schedule it for a different day. The employee said a declaw would be from $135- $585. Researcher asked if the cats are ok long term after a declaw and the employee said every cat is different and they personally don’t think they are.
Glenroads Veterinary Clinic. Bettendorf, Iowa
The employee said that they do not declaw cats and the researcher asked why and if it’s bad for a cat and the employee said no, it’s just not something they don’t offer there. They recommended Animal Family Veterinary Care Center, which is a Suveto Veterinary Group Company clinic, for the declaw which is about 7 miles away.
The Pet Hospitals, Lakeland, TN
January. 2026. The employee said that they perform declaws for “special cases” and the researcher asked what kind of cases and they said if it’s for a medical reason and your doctor needs to write a letter as to why you need to do it. The employee said, for instance if someone is on blood thinners and they have to have a good reason. They said they have several doctors who could do it but not all of them will do them.
UPDATE December 2025
Thrive sent this new declawing position out to all their clinics on August 5, 2025. Thrive is the first veterinary group company that said they support legislation to ban declawing.
“From: Medical Leadership Team at Thrive Pet Healthcare
Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2025 2:00 PM
Subject: Thrive Stands with Veterinary Organizations Against Elective Declawing
Thrivers:
Our priority is always the health and well-being of the pets entrusted to our care. We’ve
heard from many of you with thoughtful questions about feline declawing, and we want
to take this opportunity to clarify and be transparent about our position.
Thrive Pet Healthcare does not support elective declawing. This procedure will not
be performed in our hospitals unless it is medically necessary to protect a cat’s
health or life.
We take this issue seriously. Our position reflects both contemporary veterinary
practice and our commitment to animal welfare. We stand with the Feline Veterinary
Medical Association (FVMA), the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), and
the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in opposing elective declawing.
We also support legislation that restricts this procedure. While declawing remains
legal in some states, our shared goal is to educate pet owners on the risks, help them
understand normal feline scratching behaviors, and guide them toward humane
alternatives.
We understand these conversations with pet owners can be nuanced, and that each
patient is unique. In rare cases where declawing is medically necessary to protect a
cat’s life or health, we trust our veterinarians to use their clinical judgment to make the
best possible decision for their patient.
Resources for Client Conversations
To support your conversations with clients, we encourage you to explore and share the
following resources, which provide guidance on feline scratching behavior, the risks of
declawing, and alternatives to surgery:
• Alternatives to Declawing (AVMA)
• Feline Scratching Resources (FVMA)
Thank you for your continued dedication to providing compassionate, informed care
and for helping pet owners make thoughtful decisions that support lifelong feline
health.
– Medical Leadership Team”
Unfortunately Thrive failed to clarify that the medically necessary clause means for the cat’s paw and instead put “medically necessary to protect a cat’s life or health.” We asked Thrive if we could get clarification on if “medically necessary to protect a cat’s health or life” is limited exclusively to a diagnosable medical condition of the cat itself like a tumor or injury, or whether it can also include human-related factors, such as an owner’s medical condition or risk of injury from scratching or the owner is going to euthanize the cat if they can’t get them declawed.
On Jan.7, 2026, Thrive’s media team wrote this to City the Kitty, “Thank you for reaching out. Thrive Pet Healthcare doesn’t support elective declawing in cats. Our position is clearly outlined in the public statement on our website, which reflects our current policy and guidance across the network. That statement remains in effect and was published in 2025 to provide transparency and clarity.
Because the Change.org petition does not accurately reflect Thrive’s policies or practices, we respectfully ask that it be closed to avoid further public confusion. Thank you for your consideration.”
City the Kitty wrote them back and wanted to confirm that Thrive completely banned declawing in their clinics.
Thrive wrote back on Jan. 8, “Thrive Pet Healthcare does not support elective declawing in cats and follows the guidance of respected veterinary organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), and the Feline Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA), all of which oppose elective feline declawing. This guidance applies to all hospitals within our network. As reflected in our public statement, declawing is not performed for convenience or owner preference. Our veterinarians use their professional judgment solely to determine what is medically necessary to protect the health and welfare of the individual cat.”
And another email from their PR person, “Thank you for your continued outreach and for staying engaged on this topic. I would welcome the opportunity to reset the tone of our conversation, grounded in the shared commitment that both City the Kitty and Thrive have to the health and well-being of cats.
City the Kitty wanted to confirm the policy so they asked this, “Can you confirm whether this is limited exclusively to a diagnosable medical condition of the cat itself like a tumor or injury, or whether it can also include human-related factors, such as an owner’s medical condition or risk of injury from scratching or the owner is going to euthanize the cat if they can’t get them declawed?”
Thrive wrote back, “Our focus is always on the cat’s health and quality of life. Declawing is not offered for convenience or owner preference, including the human-related situations you outlined below. This approach is consistent with the guidance of major, reputable veterinary organizations. When difficult cases arise, our veterinarians rely on their professional judgment to determine what is medically necessary to protect each individual cat’s well-being. I hope this additional context helps.”
We told Thrive that since their August 2025 declawing position was sent out, we have documented that multiple Thrive-affiliated clinics continue to declaw cats for owner convenience, for human health reasons, on all four paws, and some clinics that no longer perform the procedure are referring clients to clinics that declaw regularly, even daily. We told them this is why making it clear that the medically necessary clause is just for the cat’s paw is so important.
Thrive wrote us back on Jan. 29, 2026 and said, “Thrive Pet Healthcare’s position opposing elective declawing is clearly outlined in both our internal guidance and our public statement. These resources are intended to support our medical teams in having thoughtful, compassionate conversations with clients. Our medical leaders continue to work closely with hospitals across our network to support a consistent understanding and implementation of the policy.
STORY
Thrive Pet Healthcare has more than 400 practices in America and they allow declawing in their stand alone clinics. You can search for Thrive clinics near you. Thrive Pet Healthcare Clinics
We reached out to Thrive Pet Healthcare in February, 2022 about this issue and this was the response from their Senior Communications Director, Mariya Barnes.
“Thanks so much for your email. Please see Thrive Pet Healthcare’s position below. The quote can be attributed to Dr. Scott Schatzberg, Chief Medical Officer at Thrive Pet Healthcare.
“We trust and respect our teams to use their expertise in the best interests of their patients’ health and well-being. Our doctors encourage alternatives to elective declawing with pet parents and pursue declawing only when there is not another viable option. We recognize that our teams may face extenuating circumstances where a procedure could prevent euthanasia and save a life. In these, hopefully rare, cases, we want to support our doctors’ and pet parents’ choices when all alternatives have failed. Regarding our partnership with Fear Free, 12 of our network hospitals presently participate in a pilot and are projected to receive Fear Free Practice Certification by summer 2022. We also have individual team members who chose to get Fear Free certified – we always encourage our doctors to make the personal commitment to not to declaw. We continue receiving interest from more of our hospitals to get certified as a Fear Free Practice. We look forward to watching this partnership grow over the coming years.”
We replied back to Thrive with some important questions about this issue, asked them to give us their data and info that shows that declawing saves lives and prevents euthanasia, and educated them about the facts about declawing.
We haven’t heard back from them. Please send Thrive Pet Healthcare a POLITE note and ask them to send us their data and info that shows that declawing saves lives and ask them why they allow this animal cruelty in their stand alone clinics. Here are their emails. woof@thrivepet.com and their senior communications director’s email, mariya.barnes@pathwayvets.com
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Does Thrive Pet Healthcare’s new COO, Angela Jaskolski know that Thrive allows declawing in their Pet Healthcare clinics? Probably not.
Here’s a Nov. 9, 2o22 story about Thrive hiring Angela Jaskolski to their COO position. Story about Thrive’s new COO, Angela Jaskolski
Jaskolski says, “I’m inspired by the company’s vision to deliver innovative, best-in-class care for pets.”
She has the saying, “Be the change” on her Twitter profile.
Dr. Scott Schatzberg, Thrive’s Chief Medical Officer said in the story, “The health and wellness of pets are at the heart of everything we do” and “Our promise of exceptional veterinary care.”
Let’s hope their new COO, Angela Jaskolski, can inspire Thrive Pet Healthcare to join all the other big veterinary companies and ban declawing in their clinics. #BeTheChange
HOW CAN DECLAWING BE GOOD FOR THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS OF A CAT???????
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Please take 60 seconds and sign our petition to Thrive Pet Healthcare. Thrive Pet Healthcare Petition
Also, send Thrive a polite note and ask them why they allow this animal cruelty in their Thrive Pet Healthcare stand alone clinics. woof@thrivepet.com or Thrive Contact form
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Thrive Pet Healthcare says in their mission that they aim to revolutionize veterinary care for pets and their medical teams are able to dedicate their passions towards evolving veterinary standards, benefiting both pets and their human families.
We asked Thrive how does declawing fits into “revolutionizing vet care and evolving veterinary standards” to benefit cats but Thrive never got back with us.
Thrive Pet Healthcare says that they are empathetic, supportive, and trustworthy and always hold themselves accountable.
We asked them how does allowing declawing fit into these values. Thrive never got back with us.
Thrive Pet Healthcare says they offer medical excellence and their providers continually enhance global standards of veterinary care.
We asked them how can allowing declawing fit into this statement when it is banned in 42 countries and all the veterinary organizations throughout Europe are completely against this inhumane and unnecessary amputation procedure.
Thrive never got back with us.
Here’s one of their facebook posts from Sept. 2022.
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Our researchers looked into how some of the Thrive Pet Healthcare stand alone clinics address declawing by making a short phone call asking for the cost of a spay/declaw, what doctors perform their declaws, and if declawing is ok for a cat long term.
We have withheld the names of employees for fear that they might suffer a backlash for their honest answers.
January 2023
Westlake Animal Hospital, Westlake, TX.
A declaw is $1500. They said that they have one vet, Dr Ian Voelzel who does their declaws.
Riverside Drive animal care center, Dublin, OH. This is an AAHA Accredited Animal Hospital.
They are not listed on Catvets.com as a Cat Friendly Practice but their website says they are a Cat Friendly Practice. (They have one vet, Dr Yanjie Chen who is an AAFP member.) Riverside Drive Cat Friendly Practice Page
The employee at Riverside Drive said they only perform declaws for an absolute medical reason for the cat or human like if they have a blood clotting disorder and are not able to get scratched but they don’t like to do declaws.
Their declaws need to be approved by a doctor and they are around $580- $780.
We reached out to AAFP (catvets.com) to ask them if Riverside Drive Animal Care Center is a Cat Friendly Practice since they are still providing declawing services but they never got back with us.
Here’s a 2018 story we did about this AAHA hospital and Thrive Pet Healthcare practice. https://citythekitty.org/an-aaha-cat-friendly-and-pain-free-declawing-hospital/
Praire State Veterinary Clinic, Orland Park, IL (Nov. 2022)
Employee said that a neuter/declaw is $320. They said that they have 2 female vets who do their declaws, Dr Tassone and Dr Riffice and they said, “We only do the 2 front paws.”
When asked if they do declaws regularly the employee said, “Yes they do.”
When asked if a declaw is ok for a cat long term they said yes and that the cats are “totally fine.”
Stoneyridge veterinary service, Troy, OH
Employee said that Dr Kelley Young does their declaws. A neuter/declaw is $625.80.
The employee was asked if a declaw is ok for a cat and they said that it is known to cause arthritis because it involves clipping off the first knuckle.
They said that they will only do a 4 paw declaw if a cat owner has a medical condition like a blood clotting disorder or is taking blood thinners because it is inhumane to do all four paws. Link to Stonyridge’s surgery page. Declaws are routine surgeries at Stonyridge
Gentle Care Animal Hospital at Ten Ten, Cary, NC
A declaw is around $200 and you need to get an exam to do blood work and vaccines and you can drop the cat off for the declaw procedure and for the exam.
Gentle Care Animal Hospital at Tyron, Raleigh, NC. This clinic is one of the 12 Thrive clinics that is participating in this Fear Free program. (Here is the link to more info about this Fear Free partnership. Thrive and Fear Free partnership
The employee said that they only do declaws under special circumstances like if the cat has behavioral issues and if all other options have been tried. They said that Dr Mallo and Dr Baily do their declaws. Dr Mallo and Dr Baily are Fear Free Certified veterinarians and Fear Free Pets told us in 2021 that they do not allow their Fear Free Certified Veterinarians to declaw cats.
We reached out to Fear Free about this issue and they said, “Thank you for reaching out. We are excited to be working with Thrive Pet Healthcare. Specifically, we are working with 12 hospitals, with more that are interested, on working towards Fear Free Practice Certification. As you are aware, starting January 1st, this year, our Certified Practices are not allowed to provide declaw services. We are not able to enforce what services are provided or not provided within a clinic at an individual level of certification. We look forward to certifying as many hospitals as possible in the Thrive Pet Healthcare network. They are a great organization to work with and we are thrilled with their interest in making Fear Free an initiative of theirs this year.”
This response was confusing so we asked them this. “OK, so just to be clear. You don’t allow your Fear Free Veterinarians to declaw cats anymore and you don’t allow declawing in your Fear Free Practices but you do not enforce your own rules and don’t care if they are breaking your rules? When someone informs you that FF veterinarians are still performing declawing you just look the other way? Do you believe that it’s ok that the leaders with Thrive Pet Healthcare are still allowing declawing in their practices?”
Fear Free Pets and Dr Marty Becker never replied back to our email.
Animal Medical Center of Forney, TX
They use a scalpel and when asked if a declaw is ok for a cat long term they said yes.
Rowlett Veterinary clinic, Rowlett, TX
The researcher asked for the cost of a declaw and the employee asked, “Just the front two or all four?”
They said that a Spay/4 paw declaw is $300 and said Dr Rachel Gelber does the 2 paw declaws and Dr Dona Elton, their medical director, does the 2 and 4 paw declaws. When asked if a declaw is ok for a cat long term they said they believe so. They use a scalpel.
Anthony Wayne Animal Hospital, Maumee, OH.
A spay declaw is $380. They said that Dr Steven Reece does their declaws. When asked if a declaw is ok for a cat long term they said yes. They said that there is a healing process, it’s best to do the declaw early, and the cats generally do fairly well.
Oxford Animal Hospital, Overland Park, KS.
They said that a spay/declaw is $855 and their vets use a laser. When asked if a declaw is ok long term for a cat they said yes.
Marathon Veterinary Hospital, FL.
They said that their doctors prefer not to do declaws.
Hudson Animal Hospital, New Hampshire.
Employee said that they don’t do declaws because their doctors don’t think it’s ethical. Employee was asked if a declaw is bad for a cat and they said, “Not if it’s done correctly.”
Kindness Animal Hospital East, Cape Coral, FL.
They said that their doctors don’t consider declawing to be humane and they do not perform them.
Town East Animal Hospital, Mesquite, TX
They don’t declaw cats.
Lyndhurst Animal Clinic, Lyndhurst, OH
They don’t do declawing. They said that their doctors don’t feel it’s in the interest for a cat. They talked about the humane options and described how it is an amputation.
Cheyenne West Animal Hospital, Las Vegas, NV
Cheyenne advertises their feline declaws. Link to their website. Cheyenne’s feline declaws
You need to have an exam first and a doctor needs to give the estimate for the declaw. They said they rarely do the declaws. They said that after the exam they would get the declaw scheduled for you.
The Pet Hospital Downtown, Memphis, TN
A doctor needs to give the estimate for the cost of a declaw. They said that they don’t always do declaws and you need an appointment first.
The Pet Hospital Collierville, TN
The doctor needs to give an estimate for the declaw. They said some of their doctors do the declaws. They said that you can just drop the cat off for both the exam and declaw/neuter.
St Francis Pet Care Centers, Trinity, FL
They said that their veterinarians do not want to perform declaws.
Liberty Grove Animal Hospital, TX.
They don’t declaw because they said they don’t have a laser.
(UPDATE MARCH 2022. Petco and Thrive part ways. Petco Health and Wellness Co. Inc. will significantly expand its reach into veterinary medicine by taking control of all the in-store veterinary clinics currently operated by Thrive Pet Healthcare. STORY- Petco and Thrive part ways.)
In 2017 Thrive Pet Healthcare entered into a partnership with Petco and none of the Thrive Petco clinics perform declawing. They do perform spay and neutering.
In 2018 Petco told us this, “Please know that Petco and the Petco Foundation do not support the practice of declawing unless it is a medical necessity (for the cat).”
Please send Petco a polite note and ask them why they are partnering with a company like Thrive Pet Healthcare that allows this cat cruelty in their stand alone clinics. Here’s Petco’s email. customerrelations@petco.com