US state of New Hampshire considering a ban on cat declawing

More good news on the American domestic cat front. More common sense within the world’s biggest domestic cat marketplace. More ethical thinking. More resistance from the veterinarians to ban declawing which surprises me. In fact, it shocks me that veterinarians in America resist so vehemently what they promised to do in the first place; not to cause harm to their patients. In fact, they continue to trash their reputation by refusing to give up declawing cats voluntarily or to fight bans both at city and state level. If they gave it up they’s get more business because the monkey would be off their backs.

New Hampshire considering banning declawing
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

New Hampshire considering banning declawing. Image: MikeB

Nathan Winograd tells me that New Hampshire is considering a bill to ban declawing. I looked it up and have found that New Hampshire’s Bill to ban declawing is HB 231. It has passed the House and is being considered in the Senate.

A quick visit to a website which lists the legislation being debated tells me that it ought to pass. It was introduced on 16 March 2023. The sponsors are Mike Bordes and Ellen Read. It is a bipartisan bill which means that both sides of the house support it.

States where declawing is banned

If and when it passes into law, New Hampshire will be the third American state to ban declawing after Maryland (2022) and New York (2019). Virginia has debated a ban. There were poised to ban in last year. Watch this space.

Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important

Cities where declawing is banned

Over quite a long period of time, 15 American cities have banned declawing. They are as follows:

  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. West Hollywood, California

Progress is being made, bit by bit to eradicate this aberrant veterinary procedure conveniently mislabelled as ‘declawing’ (actually ten amputations) from the American landscape. It is a slow process. Far too slow for animal advocates. But progress is progress and it would seem that one day America will join the following countries where declawing is specifically banned.

Countries where declawing is banned

  1. Australia
  2. Austria
  3. Belgium
  4. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  5. Brazil
  6. Bulgaria
  7. Cyprus
  8. The Czech Republic
  9. Denmark (does not apply to Greenland or the Faroe Islands)
  10. England (part of UK)
  11. Finland
  12. France
  13. Germany
  14. Greece
  15. Ireland
  16. Israel
  17. Italy
  18. Latvia
  19. Lithuania
  20. Luxembourg
  21. Macedonia
  22. Malta
  23. Montenegro
  24. The Netherlands
  25. New Zealand
  26. Northern Ireland
  27. Norway
  28. Portugal
  29. Romania
  30. Scotland (part of UK)
  31. Serbia
  32. Slovenia
  33. Spain
  34. Sweden
  35. Switzerland
  36. Turkey
  37. Ukraine
  38. Wales (part of UK)

Canada leads America in banning cat declawing. They’ve made some great progress and 8 of its 10 provinces have banned the procedure. I am thankful to PETA to remind me of this information. Things are changing and this page essentially updates the current state of play on declawed bans across North America as at March 2023.

Canada is banning declawing

The following provinces in Canada have banned declawing:

  1. Alberta
  2. British Columbia
  3. Manitoba
  4. New Brunswick
  5. Newfoundland and Labrador
  6. Nova Scotia
  7. Prince Edward Island
  8. Saskatchewan
  9. Québec (effective February 2024)

Below are a couple of articles on declawing. There are hundreds more on POC. Please search for them if it interests you.

Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

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