Here's our March 5, 2022 story about Thrive Pet Healthcare and declawing. Some of their practices ask if you want a two or four paw declaw and say declawing is ok for a cat and others say that their doctors don't think declawing is ethical or humane and they don't perform it. http://citythekitty.org/thrive-pet-healthcare-allows-declawing-in-their-practices/

Dear Dr Scott Schatzberg, COO Angela Jaskolski and Thrive Pet Healthcare leaders,

On Feb. 16, 2022 you sent us your declawing position statement that was written by Dr. Scott Schatzberg, the 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." Dr Scott Schatzberg.

The data shows that you are wrong about your position statement on declawing

Real. Hard. Data.

Why does Thrive Pet Healthcare choose to ignore the facts?

Declawing actually doesn't save lives or prevent euthanasia.

In fact the hard data shows that the opposite often happens and declawed cats are often relinquished to shelters and thrown out because of the behavioral issues they developed from the pain and suffering in their paws from their toe bone amputations. Many of those declawed cats are euthanized because it's hard to find them a new home.

Shelters and rescues in America are against declawing and want it banned. They see firsthand the destruction that declawing causes to the lives of thousands of cats each year.

We ask you Thrive Pet Healthcare to stop making excuses to justify declawing and ban it in your stand alone clinics.

By doing so, you will be protecting the interest of cats instead of protecting the interests of your declawing veterinarians.

Your company entered a partnership with Petco in 2017 and the Petco Thrive brand made a choice to not offer declawing even though they perform routine spay and neuters.

In 2018 we reached out to Petco to ask them if they have a position on declawing and they said this, "Please know that Petco and the Petco Foundation do not support the practice of declawing unless it is a medical necessity." 

Is there a reason why the Thrive Petco clinic's brand has taken a stand against this gruesome, inhumane, and unnecessary animal cruelty yet Thrive Pet Healthcare ultimately condones this barbaric, mutilating, and cruel amputation procedure for their stand alone clinics?

We would think that you would want your company's morals and values to represent the same high standards that promote animal health and wellness and not support this animal cruelty by using weak, false, and antiquated excuses.

We looked into how some Thrive Pet HealthCare stand alone clinics address declawing and many of them say their doctors won't do declaws because it is not humane, they don't think it's in the best interest of a cat, and it's not ethical.
Also, many of your practices perform 2 and 4 paw declaws on a regular basis and say that it's ok for a cat.

When asked for the cost of a declaw at one of your Thrive Pet Care clinics, the employee asked, "Do you want two or four paws?"  Do you really think that they counsel cat owners about the humane alternatives and do it as a last resort to prevent euthanasia?

How can there be such a big discrepancy with the standards in Thrive Pet Healthcare veterinarians?

The veterinarians in your clinics that don't declaw cats are up to date on how it is really bad for cats, inhumane, and how it doesn't save lives. They are ethical and humane veterinarians who truly care about the health and well being of a cat and know that there are always humane options.

The veterinarians who are still declawing cats are either doing it for the easy and good revenue it brings their clinic or because they aren't keeping up with the latest facts about it.

We realize it was important to you to come up with some sort of excuse to justify why some of your practices still perform this inhumane and cruel procedure and you don't want your company to sound like the bad guy, but now that you know better, hopefully Thrive Pet Healthcare will do better and be a leader in the vet profession who truly cares about the welfare of cats and stop allowing declawing in your clinics.

If not, maybe you should take the word "healthcare" out of your name since declawing always harms the long term health and well-being of a cat.

Sincerely,

City and team and supporters.

UPDATE MARCH 7, 2022. PETCO IS ENDING THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH THRIVE PET HEALTHCARE. HERE'S A STORY ABOUT THIS. PETCO ends their partnership with Thrive

Please send a polite note to Thrive Pet Healthcare and ask them where is their data that shows that declawing saves lives and prevents euthanasia. Email- woof@thrivepet.com

Also, ask them if the real reason they won't ban it is because they don't want to upset their declawing veterinarians and take away the easy and good revenue they are making from this horrific and gruesome cat cruelty.

Let us know if you get an answer. citythekitty@gmail.com

Know the facts. Declawing is animal cruelty. http://citythekitty.org/declawing-facts-vs-myths-humane-options/