The New York declaw ban didn’t come easy.
After years of legislative defeat, opposition from the largest veterinary group in the state, and pushback from special interest groups, New York became the first to enact a full statewide ban on cat declawing when its governor inked the bill in late July.
The bill is a major victory for animal welfare advocates, one they hope will lead to more victories in other state legislatures and, eventually, at the national level.
“One always hopes that eventually, truth and justice will prevail,” Dr. Jennifer Conrad, a veterinarian who runs the anti-declawing Paw Project, told Front Page Meews. “It is very gratifying to know that a state as prominent as New York has stepped up to protect cats from the harmful and unnecessary practice of declawing.”
Conrad knows firsthand. In 2017, she testified before lawmakers about the damage the declawing causes cats. It was during this time that a ban was on the cusp of passing in the New York State legislature.
“It’s the amputation of a cat’s toes to protect a couch,” Conrad told New York state senators and assembly members. “None of us went to vet school to protect couches.”
Banning declawing beyond New York
While the declaw ban – which goes into effect immediately – will save innumerable cats and kittens from mutilation in the Empire State, advocates aren’t resting on their laurels.
Instead, they hope to use the New York declaw ban as a model. Advocates seek to springboard the ban in order to have other states follow. Lawmakers in several states have introduced declawing bans, only to have them defeated in by veterinary associations looking to protect the income declawing brings to their practices.
“Now that my bill has become law, New York has been catapulted onto the leaderboard of humane states,” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat. “and we expect other states to quickly follow in our footsteps.”
Like its neighbor, New Jersey has flirted with declaw bans in years past, with bills narrowly defeated in the state legislature. Lawmakers there are trying again this year.
In West Virginia and Rhode Island, bills to ban declawing have been introduced but haven’t been brought to a vote.
Veterinary medical groups oppose declaw bans
In California, where several towns and cities have banned declawing, a ban was put forth during the 2019 legislative session. It was defeated by that California’s Veterinary Medical Association, which takes a similar stance to its counterpart in New York.
“The California Veterinary Medical Association believes that medical decisions should be made by clients in consultation with their veterinarian and is opposed to these ordinances,” the group’s leaders wrote in a statement. “Veterinarians must be allowed to counsel their clients on all available medical treatments that are in the best interests of their patient.”
Declawing has already been banned in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver.
It is estimated that as many as one in four cats in the US has been declawed. The procedure, often mistaken for a simple nail trim, involves the amputation of a cat’s toes up to the first knuckle.
Studies: Declawing leads to pain and behavioral problems
Declawing “significantly increases the odds” of back pain, urinating outside the litter box, biting and excessive grooming, according to a comprehensive study on the procedure published in 2017 by the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. The study also found that declawing is an inexact procedure that often leaves bone fragments behind. The fragments may exacerbate the pain felt by declawed cats.
As a result, cats who are declawed often act out. This increases the odds they’ll be surrendered to animal shelters and may be left without homes.
Declawing is opposed by major animal welfare groups. This includes the Humane Society of the United States, the ASPCA, the American Animal Hospital Association and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The study confirms the findings of previous research on the longstanding impacts of declawing.
Groups opposed to declawing bans are fighting against that research, Brian Shapiro told Front Page Meews last year.
“Veterinary science is based on facts,” said Shapiro, the New York State director of the Humane Society. “You can come to no other conclusion than declawing hurts these animals.”
