In the state of Arizona it is legal to declaw your cat.

Declawing is a series of bone amputations. Declawing is more accurately described by the term de-knuckling and is not merely the removal of the claws, as the term "declawing" implies. In humans, fingernails grow from the skin, but in animals that hunt prey, the claws grow from the bone; therefore, the last bone is amputated so the claw cannot re-grow. The last bone of each of the ten front toes of a cat's paw is amputated. Also, the tendons, nerves, and ligaments that enable normal function and movement of the paw are severed. An analogous procedure applied to humans would be cutting off each finger at the last joint.

Declawing, also known as onychectomy (än-ik-ek-tō-mē), is a major surgical and potentially crippling procedure that robs an animal of its primary means of defense. Declawed animals may be at increased risk of injury or death, if attacked by other animals. They are deprived of their normal, instinctual behavioral impulses to use their claws to climb, exercise, and mark territory with the scent glands in their paws.

The National Council on Pet Population Study & Policy published "The Top Ten Reasons for Pet Relinquishment to Shelters in the United States" in 2000:

#1 House Soiling
#2 Aggression (biting)
(These are the two behavior problems most associated with cats that have been declawed.)
The report showed house soiling, followed by aggression, as the most common behavioral reasons for pet relinquishment. These two problem behaviors are frequently reported about cats that have been declawed; however, for cats with claws, it is interesting to note that destructive scratching did not make the list. Only 3.3% of cat owners, according to Scarlett, et al. (JAVMA 2002) claim destruction of furniture as the unwanted behavior that led them to relinquish their pets. This figure is similar to the 3% of cats that, according to the study, were relinquished for being "unfriendly and disobedient."

Yes, there is precedent for banning declawing. The Paw Project has successfully sponsored these American laws: Declawing became illegal in the West Hollywood, California in 2003—the first city in all of North America. Declawing has since been made illegal in 7 other California cities: Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City and Berkeley. Declawing of wild and exotic cats is illegal throughout the State of California. The USDA, the governing body over animals that are exhibited, sold or bred, added to the Federal Animal Welfare Act a regulation that animals cannot be declawed or defanged as of August 2006.

Regarding tolerance for declawing in veterinary practice, the United States is unusual compared with European countries. Declawing is illegal in many countries around the world, because it is regarded as inhumane. There is growing support of the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, which prohibits declawing. To date, the Convention continues to gather signatories, and since its inception, countries including Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Norway and Germany have enacted laws expressly prohibiting declawing.

European veterinary medical professional organizations, including the UK's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, have publicly expressed their accord, equating declawing with "mutilation" and stating that declawing for the "prevention of furniture or carpet damage is unacceptable."

Further support for the enactment of laws prohibiting declawing has been expressed by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, whose convention calling for an end to non-therapeutic surgeries, including declawing, ear cropping and tail docking, has been ratified by veterinary associations from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, British Columbia, Columbia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

Attitudes concerning the relationship between humans and animals are changing worldwide. In 2002, Germany became the first European nation to vote to guarantee animal rights in its constitution when the members of the Bundestag voted to add "and the animals" to a clause that obliges the state to respect and protect the dignity of humans. Article 20a of the German Basic Law now reads: "The state takes responsibility for protecting the natural foundations of life and animals in the interest of future generations." In January 2003, the European Union Parliament voted unanimously to ban the testing of cosmetics on animals as well as the sale and import of new cosmetics tested on animals. The farming of animals for fur was recently banned in England. Switzerland passed an amendment in 1992, recognizing animals as beings and not things.

Mohandas Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Although animals are still regarded as 'property' in the eyes of American law, changes in the attitude of the American public are evident. Thirty-seven states have recently passed laws making some forms of animal cruelty a crime. (New Jersey and Massachusetts have passed statewide laws prohibiting the devocalization, also known as debarking, of dogs.) Like declawing, this procedure is a non-therapeutic surgery that affords no benefit to the animal.

A ban on declawing is consistent with this evolving attitude and would make Arizona a leader and a model in the field of animal welfare.

So please, let's put a stop to this!