Declawing is illegal or considered extremely inhumane in many countries of our world now:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales and Yugoslavia.
Despite extensive research I’ve been unable to find much information about all the other countries and their stance on declawing. I think maybe in some, the subject of declawing hasn’t been discussed because it has never even been considered to be an option.
I did find one interesting report, that in Singapore declawing is discouraged, so maybe there are more countries where it is discouraged too or where declawing is so rarely asked for that there needs to be no law banning it.
Our Animal Welfare Act 2006 here in the UK makes declawing illegal but I don’t know of any UK vet who would ever consider let alone perform this cruel major surgery on a cat anyway, or any cat caretaker who would ask for it.
It seems to be the USA, mainly North America, also Canada, where declawing is most popular and where some vets are still advertising declawing with discount or along with neutering.
They are of the opinion that it’s kinder to declaw a kitten than an adult cat, they will not admit that this violates the AVMA guidelines that declawing should be a last resort and they will not admit that it violates their sworn oath to cause no animal to suffer.
New petitions keep springing up on the internet from individuals who want declawing banned, it seems that on-line petitions don’t carry much weight, but they do show the strength of feeling of the many people who hate declawing and want to try to stop it.
Slow progress is being made, but some cities in California have already banned declawing: Berkeley, Beverley Hills, Burbank, Culver City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
Hopefully more might follow suite. Also, it is now illegal for landlords in these states of America to force a tenant to have a cat declawed: California and Rhode Island. The same legislation is pending in: New York and Massachusetts.
The Paw Project and many more individual vets who do not declaw are trying to educate cat caretakers by holding screenings of the Paw Project film. This means that growing number of cat lovers are finding out the truth about how serious declawing is and the many physical and/or mental problems it often causes cats.
One day declawing WILL be banned worldwide but not soon enough for the countless cats doomed to suffer until it is!
Update March 2022: Since this post was published, New York State has banned declawing. Maryland is considering it as has Florida. Denver has banned it. There may be others but these come to mind immediately. There is a gradual change in opinion and the veterinarians are in retreat. They are getting to the stage where they can no longer find excuses for doing it. There are no excuses. The vets find cynical and pathetic reasons.
Yes it’s totally wrong Kylee, I’m glad the vets in your country are not so cruel as to declaw cats.
Thanks Michael, yes this article especially the posters, took a lot of doing, researching the countries and finding them on the map, Geography not being my strong point lol was a bit tedious. But I wanted to show where in the world cats claws are respected.
I’ll look forward to your article………
I expect quite a lot of work went into this. These things can take time to produce. Well done Ruth. You are a great champion of anti-declawing.
I am going to do a serious article today about it.
Ruth – I agree – I think that the countries where you could find no information on it are countries where the thought hasn’t even crossed their mind. It’s too cruel. Most countries haven’t even thought of such a cruel and expensive thing to do to cats. People in 3rd world countries have never even heard of declawing and would be shocked that rich white people pay what they earn in a month to mutilate cruelly their cats.
A great map poster canvassing a extremely important aspect of cat welfare. Thanks Ruth aka Kattaddorra , i am also refreshing my geographical education through your map as many “NEW COUNTRY’s” have been born since i last studied geography in school. Brilliant idea on a sad topic of “CAT DE-CLAWING”. Why do cat owners opt for cats as pets if they don’t want their pet to live the normal life that nature destined them ?
yah great to see its illegal in New Zealand i thought it might but was sure. Yes it should be illegal anywhere on this place called earth its totally wrong. I believe its cruety as well.