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Lawmakers in Michigan are considering a bill to make it illegal to declaw cats, which many animal advocates and some veterinarians say thwarts cats’ natural instincts to climb and scratch.
House Bill 4674 would amend the state’s Public Health Code to regulate certain surgical procedures performed on cats such as declawing.
A cat playing in the snow (Patrick Pleul/Image Alliance via Getty Images)
The legislation prohibits “an onychoectomy, partial or complete phalangectomy, or tendinectomy procedure, or any other surgical procedure that would impair the normal function of a cat’s nails, fingers, or paws.” Declawing consists of amputating the last bone of each toe of the feline.
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“If you look at your fingers, declawing it would be like amputating the last section of each finger,” veterinarian Louise Murray told the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “If you were declawed, you’d have 10 short little fingers. That’s amputation by 10.”
The only exception to this prohibition would be if the procedure is deemed medically necessary.
Tabby cat stretching out and showing its claws. (Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
If the Michigan House of Representatives passes the legislation, the state will join New York and Maryland in banning the controversial practice. New York was the first state to ban the practice in 2019, and Maryland followed suit in 2022.
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Opponents of banning declawing say surgery is sometimes necessary for the health of the indoor cat, as well as the owner’s property, along with the possibility of infection from deep scratches.
Domestic cat playing with captured mouse. (Wayne Hutchinson/Farm Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Supporters of the bill say the practice is inhumane and unnecessary.
A study published in 2018 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery found that declawing cats resulted in a “significant increase in the odds of developing adverse behaviors” such as biting, licking fur and raw skin, showing aggression, urinating and defecating in inappropriate places, and showing signs of pain backwards.
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PETA says that scratching, while sometimes frustrating for cat owners, is a “natural, healthy, and important behavior.”
