PETITION TARGET: California State Senate
UPDATE (6/22/2022): Assembly Bill 2606 is currently in committee. We will continue to monitor its progress and make updates as more information is available. In the meantime, we urge you to sign and share our petition. – Lady Freethinker Staff
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Cats and kittens in California are currently at risk of legally having their bones amputated and their tendons severed so they can’t use their claws — painful procedures almost always done to cater to people’s convenience.
But a new bill now could ban the cruel and inhumane practice of declawing cats for good. Assembly Bill 2606, which is on its way to the State Senate, would prohibit the declawing of cats for cosmetic or aesthetic purposes, including people’s “convenience.”
Some people believe that “declawing” is a simple and painless procedure that extracts a cat’s nails– similar to a human’s finger nails being cut. But that’s not true. Claws grow from a cat’s bones, and surgical procedures that prevent cats from using them often involve cutting off the last bone of each toe with a laser or scalpel, or severing tendons so that cats can’t extend their claws.
Scratching is a natural and healthy behavior for a cat, and there is no medical benefit to the cat from this cruelty. Declawing also can lead to behavioral problems for both people and their companion cats, with declawed cats at risk for infections, nerve damage, lameness, and biting, as a cat’s teeth become his or her only defense.
New York and Maryland have already recognized that allowing cats to keep their claws is the compassionate thing to do. Eight cities in California – including Los Angeles and San Francisco– also already have bans on declawing in place.
There are many affordable and humane solutions already in existence to prevent cats from scratching people’s prized possessions, and there are also many alternative companion animals in need of good homes who don’t scratch the way that cats do for people who want a pet.
There is absolutely no reason to brutally declaw cats for people who can’t stand a minor scratch or clawed furniture.
Sign our petition urging California legislators to whole-heartedly support this critical legislation that would ban declawing for convenience and so stop the suffering of countless cats.
