If you are within reasonable driving distance of Pine Grove Animal Hospital, Colorado, I would ask you to please use it. Register with the hospital or do whatever you have to do to make them your friends.
There are not many animal hospitals like this one in the USA. Their decision to no longer perform elective declaw surgery on cats means that they are placing cat welfare before financial profit, which is the greatest praise you can bestow upon an animal health business. It shows they care, really care about animal health and welfare, which in turn should mean better care for the animals in their charge.
Pine Grove Animal Hospital was established in 1999 by Dr. John Hess. Praise Dr Hess. Write to him and say thanks for making the decision to stop declawing cats for the convenience of the cat’s owner, which is what “elective declaw surgery on cats” means.
I want to see his animal hospital swamped with new clients so that he has to expand. I want to see Dr Hess become a multi-millionaire within two years. If he is already one, I want to see him get much richer. The richest vet in the US.
I want to show the world how a veterinarian can make great profits and not declaw cats. It is possible. I think a vet can make more money by not declawing (in the long-term) than from taking the short-term expedient, and cat abuse route, of declawing which is a bread and butter money-spinner in the USA.
But let’s get one thing clear. Dr Hess must stick religiously to what he says he will do. He has not totally banned declawing at his hospital. He says he will still perform declaw surgery when necessary for the medical needs of the cat. Examples are cases of severe infection, tumor removal, and unrepairable trauma to the claw.
Fine, that is OK, but these are rare conditions, so please do not abuse that get-out clause, Dr Hess. That caveat is not there for the purposes of wriggling around your promise.
My philosophy is to trust people initially. Treat people as honest at the outset until they screw up, then dump them.
I trust that Dr Hess will stick to his pledge to stop declawing cats. Test him. Go to the hospital and ask questions about declawing. Request it. The response should be a firm NO. If it is, give the receptionist some gushing praise. If not, tell us — leave a comment.
In the meantime, and on the basis that Dr Hess is on the level and totally truthfully, give him a kiss (if you are a woman!) when you take your cat the surgery. Do it for all the cats who have been cruelly mutilated for the convenience of their owner.
Dr. Hess says:
“My core, guiding philosophy is always doing what is best for the pet. I cannot conclude that it is best for a cat to cut off its toes. This video is very powerful and I’m in full agreement with it.”
The video he is referring to is the new film produced by The Paw Project.
What a lovely website. I think it is outrageous that people will still have their cats claws removed. These people cannot call themselves cat lovers.
Thank you Samantha. We agree that it is outrageous that people want to remove their cat’s claws and often it is done to kittens. It makes me feel sick thinking about it.
Great news I hope that soon there are so many vets who won’t declaw that the ones who do lose all their cat clients,if I lived in America I’d boycott the cruel vets for sure.
Good luck to this animal hospital and to the doctors who work there. May they be very successful. Fingers crossed.
It would make me very happy if other hospitals in the area followed their lead. And, yes, I’d like it if they published a statement to tell us how stopping declawing had no negative impact on their profits.
Apologies for getting the title and URL (web address) wrong. It is just old age, world blindness and carelessness. I have changed both the URL and the title but the new URL will cause some broken links. Sorry.
Colorado is pretty far away from me (and cold – YIKES!), but Dr. Hess sounds wonderful. This is what we need – vets speaking out and going public when they aren’t willing to harm animals.
We need a huge domino effect.
We do. We need more like him. As you day a domino effect. I hope PoC is a small influence in that process.
Thank goodness The Paw Project video is getting to some vets and persuading them to stop declawing cats. I hope all vets stop of their own accord, Dr Hess should not nave have been declawing anyway, that is not ‘doing what is best for the pet’ but at least if we thank the ones like him and hopefully he gets more cat clients now, it will show the declaw vets we know that they are in the wrong.
Well said Ruth. Dr Hess has hurt cats, for sure, for no reason other than to please his human client – bad.
But as you say, we should promote him because he has changed and change is what we desperately need.
Every vet who “defects” from the distorted world of veterinary declawing is worth a lot because it represents change and a more modern thinking that may be followed.