Update. On September 6, 2017 AAFP updated their declawing position statement. Here is their wishy washy, cowardly statement. They didn’t even mention how the CDC and NIH do NOT recommend declawing for human health issues. AAFP should have stopped allowing declawing at their CAT FRIENDLY practices but they care more about not losing the membership dues from their CAT FRIENDLY declawing vets like the ones below in my story.

[button href=”https://www.catvets.com/guidelines/position-statements/declawing” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] AAFP Cat Friendly 2017 declawing position statement update[/button]

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June, 2017

On June 15, 2017 an American Association of Feline Practitioners Cat Friendly Silver practice posted a video on its facebook page with this caption, “As long as you have a declaw done at a younger age they do great…Just look at little Banx, is not slowing him down!”

The facebook post was shared by other pages who care about the welfare of cats and I also shared it on my facebook pages.


Not only does this CAT FRIENDLY practice routinely perform declaws, they promote declawing on their facebook page, they had a drawing to give away a FREE declaw at a kitten adoption event, AND they have lies about declawing on their website. This is one of the lies the vet, Dr Kramer wrote in the declawing info pdf on her website, “The declaw procedure is a surgical removal of the claw. Contrary to rumors and misinformed sources, declawing is not the removal of any of the actual toe itself, just the claw.”

More about this Cat Friendly practice- [button href=”https://citythekitty.org/declawing-a-cat-is-not-cat-friendly/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] More about this CAT FRIENDLY declawing practice[/button]


I thought that surely the “leaders” of the American Association of Feline Practitioners, the “CAT FRIENDLY” organization, would be concerned about this type of behavior at their practices, so I sent them this email.


June 20, 2017
Dr Susan Little, Dr Elizabeth Colleran, and Dr Colleen Currigan,

Shame on all of you for allowing declawing in your Cat Friendly practices. Here is one of your tried and true. How do you all sleep at night knowing you allow this cat cruelty to be done by your “Cat Friendly” vets who lie to and deceive the public about this inhumane procedure.
https://citythekitty.org/declawing-a-cat-is-not-cat-friendly/
When will your organization do the right thing and stop allowing this to go on? You guys could be a leader in your profession but instead you put money over the welfare of cats.
Shameful and so very wrong.

Lori Shepler and City the Kitty


Well I’m sad to say that here is the letter that the CAT FRIENDLY people sent to this practice. Not once did the AAFP person mention that it is best to tell the facts about declawing. Not once did they say that this practice shouldn’t advertise or promote declawing on their facebook page. This is beyond appalling how they play the victim when it is all the cats that are having their toes and claws unnecessarily amputated!

This letter was posted on the practice’s facebook page by the vet tech who works there.

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Dear Dr. Kramer,

It has come to our attention that you are experiencing some cyberbullying on your Facebook account. There has been a high recurrence of cyberbullying especially regarding controversial topics, like declawing. We’ve noticed unfortunately, that these bullies have also targeted your clinic specifically. Online outlets provide anonymity for individuals to make accusations or allegations about their hot-button opinion topics, service or experiences with your clinic. We always monitor our social media pages closely, and this particular individual is banned from our page. We have a strict social media policy/guidelines for our page and do not tolerate any personal attacks.

To safeguard our members and their veterinary practices, the AAFP has developed a list of resources to educate members and reinforce the best practices in handling these crises.
Here are steps you can take to protect your online reputation. In addition to following the suggestions below, please let us know if you have any questions about these resources.

1. Report and Ban the Initiator
To report a person or a page on Facebook, visit the page and click on the three-dot button “[…]” beside the “Message” button, then click “Report.” Next, you can select a reason stating that the person or page is harassing you. You can then submit a report to Facebook. If Facebook believes the page is harassing, they can sanction or even remove the page from the platform. You can also hover your mouse over a comment and click on the “X” in the upper right-hand corner of the comment. Then, click on “Ban [Insert Person’s Name].” The person will now be banned from your page and will not be able to locate or comment on your page in the future. You can also report abusive behavior or block accounts on Twitter.

2. Stay Updated on Trending Topics with Google Alerts
The best way to safeguard your online reputation is to be proactive. By signing up to use Google Alerts, you will get instant notifications to your email on any keyword search you request. For example, you can add your name, practice, and any common cyber-attack topics you may have come across in the past – then add these key words to a Google Alert and be the first to know when the topic is being discussed publicly. To add a Google Alert to your email address, go to google.com/alerts and enter a search term for the topic you want to track. You can even narrow the alert to a specific source, language, and/or region. Once completed, select “Create Alert.”

3. Review AVMA Resources for Cyberbullying Victims
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has developed resources for victims of cyber bullying. For more information on preventing, monitoring, and responding to cyber bullies, read here. There are some very helpful resources such as best practices, response flowcharts, and a Cyberbullying Hotline.

If you need any further assistance, please reach out via phone or email.

Sincerely,
Sarah Nathans
Senior Manager, Project Development
American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP)


More about this not so Cat Friendly organization here- [button href=”https://citythekitty.org/declawing-a-cat-is-not-cat-friendly/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] CAT FRIENDLY practice [/button]

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION TO THE CAT NOT SO FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION. IT TAKES 30 SECONDS TO SIGN AND YOUR SIGNATURE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. [button href=”http://bit.ly/CatVetsDontDeclaw” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] AAFP CAT FRIENDLY PETITION[/button]


Yes, here is what the AAFP people call “personal attacks” on the American Association of Feline Practitioner’s facebook page that I wrote and are why I was banned from their page in 2015. #PlayTheVictim




Just to show you the twisted perspective that these kind of declawing veterinary professionals have, here is a rant by a vet tech from this practice on her own facebook page. Thanks AAFP and AAHA for being such cowards and not doing the right thing to condemn declawing!!!

And to all the declawing vets who defend declawing, here is a recent study that shows no matter how you amputate a cat’s toes and claws, it ALWAYS is harmful to a cat’s health and well-being. This study was published by AAFP- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170523124130.htm

Here is her post about us.

“I just want to say there are some seriously messed up people in this world. Recently a radical group who is against declaws (I completely RESPECT their viewpoint on this topic) but has taken it upon themselves to seek out veterinary clinics all over the US and target and harass them. Their followers have also harassed and slandered these clinics (including PCCC). They email, FB messenger, CALL, and write posts and reviews on the clinics twitter and facebook accounts. This group share the clinics posts on their pages and further slander them there. They even stalked the PCCC page, found my ragdoll page, messaged me privately through the ragdoll page then turned around and used it to further slander PCCC on their website. They have called us money hungry, ANIMAL AB– USERS etc. I think anyone who knows me and/or the people I work with know that we are far from that. They are attacking us because we perform a procedure that is completely LEGAL and not even condemned by AAFP and AAHA. They both encourage using alternatives to declawing but never do they say that it shouldn’t be done. They say we are uneducated and not up with modern medicine, but they are the ones who truly have no idea what they are talking about. I’m not saying that there are never issues with declawing. There are bad vets out there who don’t do it right and yes they cause life-long pain and suffering for those cats – unless another vet fixes the issue (which I have witnessed personally). People want to “blanket blame” vets for what the bad ones do. NOT ALL VETS ARE HACKS! I’m not pro-declaw and I’m not anti-declaw. I have cats with claws and cats without. In both cases they are all happy with no issues that relate to being declawed. Either way, no matter what you believe, not matter what the actual issue is STOP ATTACKING INDIVIDUALS!! Say what you want about the issue itself, but don’t attack the individuals on either side of the issue. Why is this world so full of hatred? To the point that we condone and encourage hate speech and violence towards one another.
I’m fed up with this type of thinking.”


I’m sad to say that the Cat Friendly organization cares more about the welfare of their veterinarian’s pocketbooks and their pocketbooks than they do for the welfare of cats when it comes to declawing. Here are more sad examples of Cat Friendly practices. This Cat Friendly practice posted on their facebook page a photo of a dog getting a nail trim and then the next day a photo of a cat getting it’s toes burned off with their laser.


Here’s a Cat Friendly practice that promotes declaws on their facebook page.


Here is a Cat Friendly practice that promotes declawing in a video. [button href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M18mw6d00Yo” newwindow=”yes”] Heartland P.C laser declaw video[/button]    HeartlandAHDeclaw