The most popular animal in the U.S is the domestic cat. Yet they get treated with the least amount of respect. I write this letter here today to say we need to do better for our furry friends. We need to stop the procedure of declawing not only because it is unneeded but it is also cruel and inhumane.

Declawing is amputation, whether performed by scalpel, clippers, or laser. We believe there is never a reason to declaw for non-therapeutic reasons (that is, unless surgery were necessary to treat animals’ medical conditions). Declawing does not keep cats in homes, a fact acknowledged by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP). Side effects from declawing can include hemorrhaging, paw pad lacerations, swelling, radial nerve damage, lameness, infections, and chronic pain. Cats who suffer from these side effects may develop behavioral issues, such as aggression, biting, and urinating outside the litter box. These consequences of declawing are the behavior issues that cause most cats to be relinquished to animal shelters. Instead of declawing cats, there are many simple, affordable and humane answers available to actually solve scratching behavior, like scratching posts, spray deterrents, and nail caps

Eight cities in California – Los Angeles, San Francisco, West Hollywood, Burbank, Santa Monica, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Culver City – plus the City and County of Denver, Colorado have enacted declaw bans. Statistics available from those cities indicate that the relinquishment of cats to shelters in those cities, in the years since the bans were enacted, has not increased – in fact, the number of cats dumped in shelters has decreased consistently in the years since the laws went into effect. Veterinarians in seven of the 10 Canadian provinces have voted, in the several months, to prohibit declawing.

There is no reason to declaw cats to protect human health. The NIH, CDC, US Public Health Service, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Canadian Medical Association, all have specifically stated that the declawing is “not advised,” even for the animals of persons who are severely immunocompromised, including those with HIV. This opinion is echoed in statements on declawing published by the AAHA and the AAFP. The National Hemophilia Foundation and the American Cancer Society do not recommend declawing to protect humans from scratches.

Please support the banning of declawing cats not only in Cincinnati but in the State Ohio by signing this petition. Your vote will not only be saving lives now but for cats in the future as well. You can go to www.allycat.org for more information on how declawing effects a cats quality of life.