Ban brutal practice of declawing cats
New York, like many states, has laws prohibiting animal cruelty. A person who “maims, mutilates or kills” any animal is guilty of a misdemeanor. Yet from Brooklyn to Birmingham to Buffalo, it remains perfectly legal to declaw, systematically amputating a cat’s claws and toe bones — an unnecessary procedure that veterinarians across America perform every day.
The term itself is a deceptive euphemism. Declawing is far more serious than the name implies: It would be more anatomically honest to call it “deknuckling.”
Mostly done on tiny kittens, it is among the most painful routinely performed surgeries in all of veterinary medicine, the discomfort lasting much longer than any amount of pain medications. Regardless of how it is done — whether by laser, guillotine or scalpel — it has absolutely no benefit to the cat.
It is time we outlawed declawing, as a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal would do. Many humane and effective alternatives exist for the problem people are trying to solve: Claw trims, scratching posts, nail caps, behavioral training. Nothing justifies this brutality.
It’s not just the immediate and long-term pain caused to a sentient being that should bother us. Declawing sets off a vicious cycle: Declawed cats are at an increased risk of losing their homes, and then their lives.
Why? If a cat owner is so intolerant of a cat or kitten’s normal scratching behavior, that same owner is likely to be intolerant when the declawed animal stops using the litterbox because the sand hurts its amputated toenubs, or starts biting, its teeth having become the only means it now has to protect itself after having its claws removed.
These highly undesirable behaviors, known to be caused by declawing, are the most common behavioral reasons people surrender cats to the pound.
Dumped, declawed cats then become a burden on taxpayers and nonprofits, so predictably so that most ethical animal organizations, such as Alley Cat Allies and North Shore Animal League, put in their adoption contracts that the animals they find homes for must never be declawed.
Los Angeles, San Francisco and six other California cities have had declaw bans since 2010. In each of these jurisdictions, the number of cats relinquished after the bans has markedly decreased. In Los Angeles, a city of over 4 million people, the numbers went down 43%!
Tens of thousands of cats’ lives have been saved due to the reduction in declaw-related behavior problems, according to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department.
Who is actively opposing this legislation? The New York State Veterinary Medical Society, a trade organization counting fewer than half the state’s vets as members. They ignore the overwhelming evidence that declawing is harmful to cats, and even go so far as to say vets should declaw cats in order to protect immunocompromised humans who might conceivably get scratched, disregarding the fact that declawed cats bite more and a bite wound can warrant hospitalization.
This also blatantly contradicts major human health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, which plainly state that declawing these people’s cats is “not advised.”
Since declawing isn’t helping save cats’ lives and it isn’t helping save people’s lives, what is the real reason 75% of American veterinarians still declaw? One vet told me declawing was his “bread and butter.” Other vets are fearful that they will lose clients if they no longer declaw.
But despite declawing being a billion-dollar-a-year business, vets who opt to become catfriendly report a considerable amount of growth in both revenue and client base after they publicly condemn declawing.
Turns out, cat owners trust a caring, humane vet.
It’s not just American cities that are starting to see the light. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany and many other countries, declawing has long been illegal or considered inhumane by the veterinary profession itself. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association recently issued an updated position paper stating that declawing is “ethically unacceptable.”
Declawing costs cats their lives. Please, New York, become the first state to ban declawing. Be the compassionate role model for the rest of America.