63 jurisdictions specifically ban cat declawing (Dec 2023)

There are 63 jurisdictions where cat declawing is specifically banned in their legislation. You can almost certainly count in many more because umbrella animal welfare laws would ban cat declawing for non-therapeutic purposes. The 63 jurisdictions where declawing is banned would allow declawing for therapeutic i.e. for health reasons. That’s an important point.

Tacoma, Washington is the latest jurisdiction to ban declawing. It is the first Washington city to do it. Their addition to the list makes 15 US cities where cat declawing is banned. By ‘jurisdiction’ I mean a municipality where administrators have the authority to make laws that don’t conflict with federal laws or they are the federal law.

“I’m incredibly proud that the City Council has passed this ban on nontherapeutic cat declawing and that Tacoma takes animal welfare issues seriously. We have received an incredible outpouring of support from the community for this ban.”

Tacoma Council member John Hines

You can’t simply ban all forms of cat declawing because exceptionally rarely it is required in the interests of the patient. 99.9% of cat declawing is conducted against cats for nontherapeutic reasons and at the convenience of the owner in order to protect furniture or because they are frightened of claws.

I will do my best to update the page as when required.

  • 1-16 – Cities and towns in the USA
  • 17-54 – Countries
  • 55-63 – Provinces in Canada

List

  1. Allentown, Pennsylvania
  2. Austin, Texas
  3. Berkeley, California
  4. Beverly Hills, California
  5. Burbank, California
  6. Culver City, California
  7. Denver, Colorado
  8. Los Angeles, California
  9. Madison, Wisconsin
  10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  11. St. Louis County, Missouri
  12. St. Louis, Missouri
  13. San Francisco, California
  14. Santa Monica, California
  15. Tacoma, Washington
  16. West Hollywood, California
  17. Australia
  18. Austria
  19. Belgium
  20. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  21. Brazil
  22. Bulgaria
  23. Cyprus
  24. The Czech Republic
  25. Denmark (does not apply to Greenland or the Faroe Islands)
  26. England
  27. Finland
  28. France
  29. Germany
  30. Greece
  31. Ireland
  32. Israel
  33. Italy
  34. Latvia
  35. Lithuania
  36. Luxembourg
  37. Macedonia
  38. Malta
  39. Montenegro
  40. The Netherlands
  41. New Zealand
  42. Northern Ireland
  43. Norway
  44. Portugal
  45. Romania
  46. Scotland
  47. Serbia
  48. Slovenia
  49. Spain
  50. Sweden
  51. Switzerland
  52. Turkey
  53. Ukraine
  54. Wales
  55. Alberta
  56. British Columbia
  57. Manitoba
  58. New Brunswick
  59. Newfoundland and Labrador
  60. Nova Scotia
  61. Prince Edward Island
  62. Saskatchewan
  63. Québec (effective February 2024)

The sad aspect of this list is that is has to be a list. It would be so much better if the US federal government banned cat declawing in one fell swoop. Over done with. Sadly that is not going to happen. The vets continue to fight teeth and claw (excuse the pun) to retain the right to mutilate kittens at the convenience of miguided cat owners.

The list is courtesy PETA who extremely helpfully keep it up to date. Many thanks. It will need up dating as bans spread out across America.

What is cat declawing? A lot of people are unsure but if they knew how cruel it is they’d not do do it. Here is a picture which explains it. It entails 10 amputations! Yes, 10. Imagine what that’s like for a kitten. Totally shock. A kind of hell when you consider the claw is a vital part of the cat’s anatomy. And they walk on their toes as digitigrades. Horrible and many vets support the operation for non-therapeutic purposes in a complete derogation of their oath which is in tatters.

Image by MikeB.

Leave a Comment

follow it link and logo