Veterinarians face fines for performing the procedure except on medical grounds.
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Lazia, 19 October 2019 — Mahusetan cat owners will henceforth have to tolerate the occasional scratched armchair: the National Convention of 2019 has outlawed the declawing of cats, in one of its first measures for animal welfare.
Declawing — known clinically as onychectomy, and already banned across much of Europe, in some Canadian provinces and in a number of United States cities — is regarded by animal-rights advocates as inhumane and unnecessary. With immediate effect, the new law permits the amputation only where it is done to treat a medical condition afflicting the animal, such as injury, a tumour or an untreatable infection; a veterinarian who performs it for any other reason faces a fine of up to ƒ5,000.
Some imagine declawing to be a minor procedure, akin to a manicure. It is nothing of the sort. Taking anywhere between thirty minutes and an hour, it involves amputating all or most of the last bone of each toe of the cat’s front paws, tendons, nerves and ligaments included.
Though most cats heal normally, some are left with orthopaedic problems: the surgery disfigures the animal’s natural anatomy, unsettling its balance and its everyday behaviour. Declawed cats may struggle to scratch in a litter tray or to clean themselves, their posture may be thrown off, and in severe cases they can be left with lasting back pain.
Edited for the relaunch of the Courant van Lazia.
