American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly is an entertaining yet important exposé documentary that will send any cat owner outside of the United States into an unmitigated state of anger over the controversial and disgusting practice of cat declawing.

In the United States, declawing a pet cat is a common practice, so prevalent that veterinarians perform it so frequently that it has become a $1 billion industry. This disturbing act is at the heart of Amy Hoggart’s investigation into conspiracy.

As a cat owner, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where I would willingly mutilate my little cat—amputating a cat’s fingers just because you are too daft to buy a few scratchpads. It’s even more difficult to imagine because, as we find out in American Cats: The Good, the Bad and the Cuddly, this is only a thing in America. Everywhere else, you will be looked at aghast by the concept. Yet somehow, it has become so common in America that it’s second nature.

As we discover in American Cats… When a cat is declawed, it isn’t the claw itself that has been removed; it’s part of the cat’s finger, including the bones in a cat’s fingers. These surgeries are not even surgeries; they are being guillotined in procedures that take 11 minutes. But often, they are usually botched, with swollen paws due to fragments of bones that have been ripped out of a cat’s finger, requiring more expensive surgery.

This mutilation, or “surgery”, of course, causes so much pain in a cat that they walk differently and behave more aggressively, as they are in that much pain. Their behaviour changes forever, leaving animals to resort to biting and striking out. We learn little but emotionally painful things, such as the assumption that when a cat is purring, it is showing how happy it is. In fact, there are different types of purrs, and one is that felines purr to soothe themselves when they are in pain or experiencing trauma.

As you continue to watch, utterly dumbfounded, a clip of a veterinarian appears, stating that legally, cats are classified as property and, as such, need to be treated as such to cover any insurance or legal costs that may arise. So, a person who is trained to care for an animal’s welfare, to give them the best life they can as an animal medical practitioner, is told explicitly not to view them as an individual, but as a piece of property, someone as unimportant as a kettle. This is where Amy Hoggart, usually ready with a little pun or joke here and there, is left dumbfounded.

When it comes to Peter Weinstein, a representative of the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association). There is nothing positive to say about a man who lies like a politician and tells inappropriate jokes to go along with it. He knows declawing is wrong, yet there he is, protecting it in the “interests” of those who he wants to ensure keep earning those tasty dollars.

What doesn’t always land in American Cats… is Hoggart herself, as when we are receiving some bleak information, her indulgence in throwing out a pun or joke isn’t always successful. If anything, it is a slight distraction from the information being presented to us. This also bleeds into her narration at times. It’s as if the tone was never fully figured out, so we have a mishmash that doesn’t quite work. What does work with her strong ability to mock those who are on the pro-declawing side of the table, with her calls to prospective vets for her hyptothetical cat that needs declawing a particular highlight.

With a few jokes not landing as intended aside, American Cats… is an entertaining and biting expose into the world of declawing, and at times, such as when a researcher/vet presents a clear tub of cat finger bones from cats she has had to perform surgery on to try and correct the botched declawing. Additionally, the subjects selected are absolutely excellent, with Dr Jennifer Conrad, who has been fighting to ban declawing her agenda for 20 years, marking herself as someone you would immediately want to support.

Without a doubt, you have to catch American Cats… It’s engaging while also highlighting the importance of animal rights in the US. It toes the line with its mixing of humour and seriousness, but in the end, it pulls it off with Hoggart as a solid guide. Let’s just hope Americans see a bit of sense and decide that, yes, their wonderful cat does deserve to have all of its toes intact.

★★★ 1/2

American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly is available on VOD on All Digital Platforms on June 17

Support Us

I am but a small website in this big wide world. As much as I would love to make this website a big and wonderful entity. That would bring in more costs. So, for now, all I hope is to make Upcoming On Screen self-sufficient. Well, enough to make any website fees less of a worry for me in the future. You can support the website below…

Patreon

You can support us in a variety of ways (other than that wonderful word of mouth) and those lovely follows. If you are so inclined to help us out then you can support us via Patreon, find our link here! We don’t want to ask you much, so for now, we have limited our tiers to £1.50 and £3.50. These will, of course, grow the more we plan to do here at Upcoming On Screen.

Thanks for reading; every view helps us out more than you would think (we have fragile egos). Until next time.

Social Media

You can also support us via Twitter and Facebook Instagram and Blue Sky! by giving us a follow and a like. Every single one helps!