Laura is a writer, illustrator, and artist living in New York City.

UPDATE: This law passed in New Jersey’s Assembly, but still has to pass in the Senate. The fight against declawing is still being fought, and the motion has several more steps to get through before being passed into law.


If you have a cat, you know they like to scratch everything. An expensive rug, a pretty chair, your forearm, it doesn’t matter. If you have a cat, you’ve definitely endured scratches to your belongings and your person. It’s just part of the deal.

However, some people have sought to remove the issue of scratching altogether through a process called onychectomy, which is a fancy word for declawing.

This is a procedure in which the claws of a cat, usually on the front paws but sometimes on the rear, are removed, along with the end bones of the cat’s toes.


If that sounds brutal and cruel to you, you’re not alone.

Many people find declawing to be a form of animal cruelty. Not only is there the pain and recovery time of the actual surgery, but it renders cats unable to do the things cats like to do, like climb, hunt, and yes, scratch. If a declawed cat gets out, it’s also unable to defend itself.

Declawing can also lead to chronic pain and other health problems, so many people around the world decry the practice.

But even with so many opponents, it’s estimated that nearly 25 percent of cats in North America are declawed, and some people still don’t think the practice harms the cat, so it remains a common enough procedure.

However, that may soon start changing. A recent law in New Jersey’s Assembly moved to ban the practice altogether, and if it passes in the state Senate, will make New Jersey the first state to outlaw the procedure.

[H/T: NJ.com]