By John Corrado

The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto

In American Cats: The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee correspondent Amy Hoggart sets out on a mission to explore America’s love affair with cats. But she ends up doing a deep-dive into the controversial practice of cat declawing instead, and the surprisingly powerful industry behind it.

Hoggart discovers a near-billion dollar industry around declawing cats, a procedure that only takes roughly eleven minutes to complete. She finds that the practice, which is only commonly done in the United States, is done more to protect an owner’s furniture from being scratched, instead of for the benefit of the cats themselves. It’s not just clipping the nails, but a surgery that essentially removes the cat’s top knuckle bones, leaving their paws floppy and mutilated.

The cute cats and Hoggart’s humour make American Cats an entertaining expose, but many of the facts are also upsetting. While supporters of the procedure argue that it’s done to stop cats from scratching, behaviouralists point out that it actually leaves cats more likely to bite if they are in pain. One of the cats Hoggart meets is Burrito, a cat at a no-kill shelter who was surrendered for acting aggressively, due to the pain he is in from the leftover bone fragments after having all four of his paws declawed.

Directed by Todd Bieber, who follows the pregnant Hoggart as she interviews pet owners and experts on both sides of the issue, American Cats becomes a deeper look at animal welfare laws as a whole. Peter Weinstein, a representative from the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association), has fought to keep declawing legal, while veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad has led the fight to get the practise banned across the United States, but gets pushback every step of the way by the powerful vet lobby.

The one good thing Hoggart discovers is that cats might be able to bridge the political divide, finding common ground between those on the right and left. She interviews Curtis Sliwa, the Republican New York mayoral candidate who lives in a three hundred square foot apartment with eighteen cats that he considers family, as well as an anarchist bookstore owner who also loves cats, but is on the complete opposite end of the political spectrum. Come for the cute cats, stay for the informative and engaging look at an important animal rights issue.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)

American Cats: The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly screens as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.