New Jersey Could Be The First State To Ban Declawing Cats!

Declawing is a painful and permanently crippling procedure. Declawing of cats, or onychectomy, is the amputation of the last digital bone, including the nail bed and claw, on each front toe.

Cats are in pain when they awake from the surgery, and the pain continues afterward. Nails can grow back inside the paw, causing extreme pain that you can’t see.

The lack of claws makes many cats feel so insecure. The procedure leaves the cats without a way to defend themselves against predators. It also leads to a variety of emotional and physical issues they’ll have to contend with for life.

New Jersey might be the first state to prohibit declawing. According to wisconsingazette.com, the measure, which cleared the lower chamber of the Legislature in January, bans onychectomies and flexor tendonectomies on a cat or any animal unless a veterinarian deems it medically necessary. Sponsors in the New Jersey Senate are reviewing possible changes and it’s not clear when it will move forward.

“Declawing is a barbaric practice that more often than not is done for the sake of convenience rather than necessity,” the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Assemblyman Troy Singleton, said in a statement.