A Denver City Council member this week plans to push for an ordinance that would all but outlaw the declawing of cats within city limits.

If the council approves the ban, Denver will follow several California cities that have outlawed a procedure that’s decried by critics as inhumane, even torturous, for felines.

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“It is a cruel practice and it’s not medically necessary, and many people aren’t aware of what the medical procedure entails,” Denver City Councilwoman Kendra Black said. “In the past it’s been presented (to cat owners) as, ‘Get your cat spayed, neutered and declawed.’ We want to make sure cats don’t suffer in this needless procedure.”

Black’s proposal would allow declawing only if it’s deemed to be medically necessary and only if it’s performed by a licensed veterinarian, with anesthesia used.

Cat declawing, usually performed by a veterinarian in procedures called onychectomies and tendonectomies, were more common decades ago, as cat owners sought to address the problem of house cats scratching up furniture or destroying household items.

As of several years ago, professional veterinary associations and animal shelter staffs estimated that 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. domestic cat population had undergone declawing.

But Black and other critics point out that the procedure is more invasive than a simple nail removal.

“They should call it ‘de-toeing,’ because that’s really what it is — an amputation of the third phalanx,” Denver veterinarian Aubrey Lavizzo told The Denver Post for a 2013 story on declawing. “… When you talk about pain in cats, it’s classified as mild, moderate and severe. Mild is a neuter. Moderate is a spay. And severe is a declaw.”

“People will do it to protect their sofa,” Black said. “(But) there are other things you can do to modify cat behavior.”

Black and Lavizzo are set to present the proposal to the council’s safety committee for consideration at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in a hearing room on the City and County Building’s third floor.

The agenda includes 15 minutes of opportunity for public comment.

Black says the presentation will include a video produced in support of the measure by Jackson Galaxy, a cat behavioral specialist from Boulder who hosts Animal Planet’s TV show “My Cat From Hell.”

Black, who represents far-southeast Denver, isn’t a cat owner. She has a dog, a golden retriever named Blue.

But she took on the cause of outlawing declawing, she said, after meeting Lavizzo, a longtime advocate for making declawing illegal in Colorado.

They served together earlier this year on Denver’s social marijuana consumption advisory committee and became friends and running partners. Black said Lavizzo spoke about his passion for the declawing issue during a long run.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” Black said, “and I was horrified.”

While the American Association of Feline Practitioners opposes declawing when it’s done as an elective procedure, not all veterinary associations support government bans on the practice.

The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, in line with some national veterinary groups, urges against elective declawings except as a last resort, when other approaches have failed. The state group expresses concern that without declawing as an option, destructive cats may be at higher risk of abandonment or euthanization.

But a presentation prepared for Wednesday’s meeting cites data from California cities with bans, showing drops across the board in cat intakes at their animal shelters after those cities outlawed declawing.

Lavizzo’s efforts to ban the procedure at the state level in Colorado so far have failed. He leads the local chapter of the PAW Project, a group that played a role in California cities’ bans.

In 2003, West Hollywood, Calif., enacted the first municipal declawing ban for domesticated cats, partly at the urging of Jennifer Conrad, the PAW Project’s founder. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica are among seven cities that have followed in that state.

But there are few bans outside California — at least, in the United States. Several countries have outlawed declawing, including Australia, Israel, Brazil, Japan and much of Europe.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2006 has banned the declawing of wild and exotic animals in the care of USDA-licensed owners.

Black said that if the council approved her measure, enforcement could be a challenge for Denver’s animal protection agency, which typically investigates issues involving animals based on complaints. She said the city likely would convene a committee to put together rules and decide on potential fines for violations.