The Good, Bad, and Baffling: Cat Declawing in California and Elsewhere

I've got good news -- at least if you're a domestic cat in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and some other California cities, that is. But there's no shortage of bad (and baffling) news too, on the very same front. First, the good: last night, San Francisco's proposed ban on declawing cats won 9 out of 11 votes from the city's supervisors; on Monday, the Public Safety Committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ask City Attorney Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance banning the practice; and in late October, the Santa Monica City Council passed a ban.

But the United States and Canada overall are still embarrasingly behind other countries in this area, and despite progress in California, a veterinary "welfare" organization in the state just managed to pass a law that will make it illegal for municipalities to pass any further such bans as of January 2010. The people behind the bans? Actual advocates for cats. The people behind the law to stop the bans? The California Veterinary Medical Association, a chip off the good ol' un-animal-friendly American Veterinary Medical Association block.

The bans are sought -- and nationwide bans are in place in roughly two dozen countries -- for good reason. Declawing is not remotely a simple, harmless procedure. A common way of explaining it in human terms is that it's akin to chopping off all of someone's fingers below the top knuckle. The claws are connected to bones -- they are part of the cats' toes. And removing the claws requires serious, painful surgery that removes an entire joint from each toe. But the amputation isn't where the suffering ends. The recovery itself is excruciating, and keep in mind that cats must use their feet after the surgery, to stand, to walk, to jump, and to use the litter box, despite the great pain. Indeed, the removal of the claws and joints and the deforming that results can cause cats lifelong pain, discomfort, and problems. And cats will continue to try to use the nonexistent claws for the rest of their lives. Declawing is not necessary, even for the sake of the furniture. Cats can be taught, they can be provided suitable scratching posts (not all of these are created equal), and they need and deserve to keep their claws.

So the fact that many veterinarians not only condone this amputation but offer and even encourage it as a standard procedure is outrageous. But it's a money-maker for veterinarians. And that's why the California Veterinary Medical Association pushed to stop cities from banning the practice. Like many veterinary and/or welfare organizations, the CVMA and AVMA are tied into the very industries and practices that profit from animal exploitation and killing -- from veterinary organizations with members who like to profit from unnecessary surgeries to welfare groups who make moolah selling "humane" labels to companies that slit the throats of animals. So they very rarely if ever truly speak for the nonhuman animals or stand up for what's best for the animals from the animals' perspective. Instead, they represent humans and the ways humans wish to use animals and profit from them. It's disgusting. And it's something that those who care about animals should consider any time they see an "expert" opinion from such organizations, including veterinary organizations, that seems suspect from the animals' perspective.

So thanks to the self-serving, anti-animal work of the CVMA, it won't be possible to pass local bans in California as of January 1, 2010, but before then, there are still possibilities for bans in a few more cities:

• Bevery Hills will vote on Thursday, November 5.
• The full Los Angeles City Council will vote this coming Friday morning, November 6.
• Malibu will vote on a resolution on Monday, November 9.
• Berkeley will vote on Tuesday, November 10.
• Santa Monica will have a second reading of the ban voted for in October on Tuesday, November 10.

The Paw Project has details and contact information for these meetings and councilmembers.

For more, including tips on living with cats and their claws, see such sites as Declawing.com (including this important page), The Paw Project, and Cats International's "The Truth About Declawing."

I know that if you've already had your cat companions declawed in past years, before knowing all this, the guilt can be heavy once you do learn the facts. My advice in these cases is twofold (and the second goes for all of us, actually):

1. Don't beat yourself up forever. Guilty feelings are understandable, but you didn't know. And many veterinarians are failing to tell people just how serious and painful the surgery and results are; too many veterinarians even encourage the surgery and downplay the seriousness. This doesn't mean you don't love your feline friends, and now you'll know next time.
2. Take what you do know now and tell other people, spread the word, and do what you can to prevent this from happening to other cats, including campaigning local veterinary offices to start promoting humane ways of living with cats and their claws and to stop performing declawing surgeries.

Finally, this post wouldn't be complete without a shout-out to Los Angeles city councilmember Paul Koretz, who received a well-deserved standing ovation at the Animal Rights National Conference earlier this year for his dedicated, unwavering work on behalf of animals in California, city by city. He is, of course, one of the people in Los Angeles who've been fighting this good fight on behalf of cats.

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Photo of Henry, a declawed cat adopted from a shelter, by Flickr user Muffet