Always a dog lover, Sacramento resident Gary Cooper didn’t think much about cats until a Maine coon mix planted himself on Cooper’s doorstep 20 years ago.
After several months of leaving food for the young feline and watching him roam the neighborhood and scrap with another cat, Cooper scooped up the stray and brought him inside to join the family, which included five rescue dogs.
Now Cooper calls himself “a crazy cat lady.” He’s rescued seven felines over two decades. “I understand how wonderful they are,” he says.
When the chance came along 10 years ago to lobby for legislation that would ban domestic cat declawing in California, Cooper was all in. He knows how the state Capitol runs. He’s been a lobbyist for 36 years.
“I knew a little bit about the issue but didn’t realize, like a lot of people, that declawing is an amputation,” Cooper says. “Most people think declawing is just trimming the nails a little bit.”
Cooper met Dr. Jennifer Conrad, veterinarian and founder of The Paw Project, a nonprofit with one goal: end the cruel, painful and unnecessary practice of feline declawing.
In 2005, The Paw Project led a successful campaign to ban declawing of wild and exotic cats, including lions, tigers and cougars, in California.
Conrad carries a cigar cutter to show how the surgical procedure guillotines the last bone, not just the nail, in each toe of a cat’s paw.
Most veterinarians use a tool designed to clip dog nails, she says. “It’s the same as a cigar cutter. They put it over the entire toe of the cat and just crunch the bone. It’s disgusting.”
Assembly Bill 867, authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-Milpitas) and signed by the governor late last year, bans declawing of domestic cats in California. Lee calls the surgery barbaric, brutal and mutilating. The bill took effect Jan. 1.
Previous bills that failed were tied to animal cruelty in the Penal Code. Cooper says, “They wanted to make declawing a crime. But declawing was not considered a serious enough crime. And who’s going to enforce it?”
Instead, AB 867 connected declawing to the veterinary license. If veterinarians performed a declaw for any reason other than medical necessity, the act would be considered unprofessional conduct. The vet’s license could be suspended or revoked.
Now there was “serious momentum,” Cooper says. Dozens of supporters signed on. Only one opponent: California Veterinary Medical Association.
“They will tell you they opposed the bill because they don’t want the slippery slope of government regulating veterinary practice,” Conrad says. “But it’s outside the scope of healing medicine because it has no benefit to the animal.”
And “vets don’t do it for free,” she adds. “It’s a billion-dollar-a-year business.”
AB 867 unanimously passed each assigned committee, the Assembly and Senate. “No ‘no’ votes is pretty amazing,” Conrad
says.
In humans, fingernails grow from the skin. In animals who hunt, claws grow from the bone. Declawing cuts off the last bone so the claw cannot regrow. Tendons, nerves and ligaments that enable normal function and movement are severed.
The crippling procedure deprives cats of instinctive and enjoyable behaviors, such as scratching, kneading and climbing. Permanent lameness, arthritis, infections and other complications are common.
“If they get outside, they are defenseless and can’t protect themselves,” Cooper says.
The residual pain leads to aggression, such as biting, and avoiding the litter box, making cats more likely to be surrendered to an animal shelter or abandoned.
The Paw Project’s first success was in 2003 when West Hollywood became the first city in North America to ban declawing. Since then, the project has won statewide bans in New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and now California.
For information, visit pawproject.org.
Cathryn Rakich can be reached at cathrynrakich@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
