Denver to hear bid to ban declawing

A Denver City Council member this week plans to push for an ordinance that would all but outlaw the declawing of cats within city limits.

If the council approves the ban, Denver will follow several California cities that have outlawed a procedure that’s decried by critics as inhumane, even torturous, for felines.

“It is a cruel practice and it’s not medically necessary, and many people aren’t aware of what the medical procedure entails,” Denver City Councilwoman Kendra Black said. “In the past it’s been presented (to cat owners) as, ‘Get your cat spayed, neutered and declawed.’ We want to make sure cats don’t suffer in this needless procedure.”

Black’s proposal would allow declawing only if it’s deemed to be medically necessary and only if it’s performed by a licensed veterinarian, with anesthesia used.

Cat declawing, usually performed by a veterinarian in procedures called onychectomies and tendonectomies, were more common decades ago, as cat owners sought to address the problem of house cats scratching up furniture or destroying household items.

As of several years ago, professional veterinary associations and animal shelter staffs estimated that 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. domestic cat population had undergone declawing.

But Black and other critics point out that the procedure is more invasive than a simple nail removal.

“They should call it ‘detoeing,’ because that’s really what it is — an amputation of the third phalanx,” Denver veterinarian Aubrey Lavizzo told The Denver Post for a 2013 story on declawing.

Black and Lavizzo are set to present the proposal to the council’s safety committee for consideration at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in a hearing room on the City and County Building’s third floor.

The agenda includes 15 minutes of opportunity for public comment.

Black says the presentation will include a video produced in support of the measure by Jackson Galaxy, a cat behavioral specialist from Boulder who hosts Animal Planet’s TV show “My Cat From Hell.”

Black, who represents far-southeast Denver, isn’t a cat owner. But she took on the cause of outlawing declawing, she said, after meeting Lavizzo, a longtime advocate for making declawing illegal in Colorado.

While the American Association of Feline Practitioners opposes declawing when it’s done as an elective procedure, not all veterinary associations support government bans on the practice.

The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association urges against elective declawings except as a last resort, when other approaches fail.