The Los Angeles City Council today, in a preliminary action, voted unanimously to ban cat de-clawing, the Los Angeles Times reports. The council is scheduled to take a final vote on the measure on November 17,
Similarly, on Thursday evening, the Beverly Hills City Council unanimously approved a cat de-claw ordinance, with a final vote also expected on November 17.
These recent actions follows a 9 to 2 vote this past Tuesday by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to ban cat de-clawing unless for therapeutic reasons. The Board of Supervisors will take a final reading on that vote next week.
Santa Monica has already voted on a ban in a first vote and will have a second reading on November 10. Malibu and Berkeley are also considering similar bans.
Deadline Approaching to Enact Cat De-claw Measures In California
These California cities have taken up the cat de-claw issue now because of a fast-approaching January 1, 2010 deadline that would prohibit such bans. On the first of the year, a new California law goes into effect restricting any California city or county from passing laws that prohibit licensed healthcare professionals from practicing their licensed specialty. The law covers veterinarians and cat de-clawing surgery.
Supporters of the cat de-claw bans point out that contrary to what many people think, cats’ claws are not human nails; they grow from the bone. So in de-clawing, an extremely painful procedure, you are taking off the whole last bone of each of the front toes of a cat or in essence de-knuckling them.
Many veterinarians feel that de-clawed cats become more aggressive whether from a feeling of being defenseless or because of chronic pain. Cats tend to bite when they are afraid or stressed. Also cats experiencing pain from de-clawing potentially develop litter box issues.
Comments
Yippee! for my home state. Californians are the greatest animal advocates on the planet.
While I am not in favor of de-clawing, I wonder if there are residual issues that will have a negative effect for cats if this ban is made law. Could there be more cats euthanized because someone would require a cat to be de-clawed before they could adopt? I don't know the answer, but I worry that a blanket law may not have the results we hope for over all. We'd do better with education and awareness campaigns, I think...
It's about time this was made into law.
While I personally don't think declawing is necessary I would have to agree with Connie. If the two options are between a cat being declawed, with appropriate pain management, and being turned over to a shelter or euthanized because it is clawing furniture I think declawing is absolutely appropriate. As an owner of both a declawed (done prior to adoption) and a cat with all of it's weapons I personally have not seen a difference in behavior or attitude between the cats, but obviously this is anecdotal. I again agree with Connie that education is the answer. Trying to educate people that scratching is a normal cat behavior and teaching people how to give their cats appropriate scracthing outlets is better than a blanket ban.
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