It Could Soon Be Against The Law To Declawing Your Cat In New Jersey

Are you a cat person or a dog person?  I’m a both person and I have to say that I only recently realized how important it is to not declaw a cat.  There is a lot of good work being done to educate people about declawing and even some legal moves being made about it locally.

Senators in Monmouth and Burlington counties proposed a bill that would make declawing cats (and other animals) for cosmetic purposes illegal.  

The goal is to ban veterinarians from claw removal because taking the claws away required actually amputating the last bone on each toe.  That is hard to hear and believe me, I did not know that when I declawed my can over ten years ago.  My daughter brought her two cats to live with us after college and when I asked her about getting them declawed she explained it to me.  They are keeping their claws now that we all know better.

There are medical complications that can persist after declawing as well.  If there is a medical reason to declaw like an infection or injury the vet would have to file paperwork requesting permission to conduct the procedure for therapeutic reasons to the Department of Health. 

Apparently, New York has already banned it and probably looking at Jersey wondering why we don’t keep up. The proposed animal cruelty statute says,

No person shall perform, or cause to be performed, an onychectomy (declawing) or flexor tendonectomy procedure by any means on a car or other animal, unless the procedure is deemed necessary for a therapeutic purpose by a licensed veterinarian.  A person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a disorderly person's offense.  

I'm glad I know better now and I'm glad this is going to the next level.