Update 4/22/22: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed into law a bill that bans the declawing of cats. The law takes effect October 1, 2022. Maryland is the second state nationwide to forbid the practice.

The ban was among 103 pieces of legislation to get Hogan’s signature on Thursday, in the aftermath of the end of Maryland General Assembly’s legislative session earlier this month.

“Delegates and senators heard from the people of Maryland and made a powerful decision that we will no longer allow cats in our state to endure this cruel, crippling procedure,” Becky Robinson, the president of Alley Cat Allies, said in a statement. Alley Cat Allies is an animal welfare organization based in Bethesda that advocated for the change.

“Amputating the last joints from cats’ toes is excruciating, causing a lifetime of pain and unintended consequences that often lead to cats being relinquished to shelters,” Robinson said.

Alley Cat Allies is currently pushing for the passage of a bill that would ban cat declawing in D.C. That legislation, which would also ban dogfighting tools and equipment and sexual contact with animals, was introduced in December of 2021, but has not been voted on by the Council.

Original: Declawing cats may soon be illegal in Maryland: a bill to ban the practice has passed both houses of the General Assembly and now heads to the desk of Gov. Larry Hogan.

Maryland would be just the second state to ban declawing — once a common procedure to keep felines from scratching and destroying furniture, but now deemed by many to be inhumane.

“A lot of people aren’t aware that declawing a cat is actually a really cruel and mutilating surgery. It’s not just doing a little manicure, but actually removes the first knuckle, the first bone from their paw,” said state Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery County), who sponsored the bill, in an interview with DCist.

Animal rights groups supported the bill, including the Humane Society of the United States, Alley Cat Allies, and Maryland Votes For Animals. However, some veterinarians opposed the measure, arguing that vets and pet owners should have the choice.

“We have grave concerns about legislative and regulatory actions that remove the professional judgment of veterinarians in determining when to perform specific veterinary procedures,” wrote Janet Donlin, CEO of the American Veterinary Medical Association, in testimony submitted to lawmakers.

Representatives of the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association argued that declawing is extremely rare — a member survey by the group found only three declaw procedures performed per year in Maryland veterinary hospitals, and a survey of shelters in the region found less than 1% of cats up for adoption have been declawed.

Veterinary groups also argued that some pet owners turned to declawing as a last resort, and would otherwise take their cats to shelters, where they would be at high risk of being euthanized.

“If a cat’s claws are causing injury or illness to a person, then MVMA practitioners advocate for keeping the cat in the home, and in the rarest of cases, a declawing procedure may be required to do so,” the group’s testimony reads.

Rockville resident Jeanne Sanders submitted testimony opposing the ban, writing that declawing allowed her to keep her cat, Jonas, after her late husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“As my husband’s disease progressed, he could not mentally process or prevent Jonas’ claws from pricking him as Jonas sat in his lap. It was agonizing to see my husband’s dismay and confusion when this happened. I recognized that the only viable solution was to have Jonas declawed.”

Animal rights groups, however, countered these anecdotes, saying that jurisdictions that have put declaw bans in place have not seen an uptick in pets surrendered to shelters.

Kagan said the declawing procedure so injures cats that it often brings about other behavioral issues that can lead to owners giving up their pets. “The surgery is such a problem that many cats are not able to use a litter box afterwards,” Kagan said.

New York was the first state to ban cat declawing, in a 2019 law. Numerous U.S. cities have also done so, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, and St. Louis.

The Maryland bill provides for fines of $5,000 for a first offense for veterinarians who willfully violate the ban, and $10,000 for subsequent offenses. Veterinarians could also have their licenses suspended or revoked. The legislation passed with a veto-proof majority, but it did not pass in time to avoid the possibility of being vetoed after the end of the General Assembly’s session on April 11.

“If people are uncomfortable with sometimes getting scratched or sometimes having the furniture get scratched, they probably shouldn’t adopt the kitty,” Kagan said.

This story has been updated with news that the bill has been signed into law.