“Cat Declawing Is Illegal — But Only in 6 States and D.C.”
Declawing cats is illegal in six U.S. states — New York, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California — plus the District of Columbia. There is no federal ban, and the procedure remains legal at the state level in the other 44 states.
Declawing's medical toll comes to light
For decades, declawing — clinically called onychectomy — was treated as a routine American veterinary procedure, performed on an estimated quarter or more of all domestic cats. The surgery involves amputating the last bone of each toe, analogous to severing a human finger at the top knuckle. Cats were typically declawed to stop furniture scratching or to protect immunocompromised owners from scratch wounds. The tide began turning as veterinary research accumulated evidence linking declawing to chronic foot pain, litter-box avoidance, increased biting, aggression, and mobility issues.
States enact bans one by one
New York fired the first legislative shot in July 2019, when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.5532B, making it the first U.S. state to ban the practice. Maryland followed in 2022 and Virginia in 2024, while the District of Columbia — a federal district rather than a state — passed its own ban in 2023. Then 2025 doubled the state count from three to six, as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California each enacted bans. California's AB 867, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 9, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, added the nation's most populous state to the list. Separately, more than a dozen cities — including Denver, Austin, Pittsburgh and St. Louis — had already enacted local bans.
Veterinary industry and other countries follow
At the professional level, the three largest U.S. veterinary chains (VCA, Banfield, BluePearl, collectively over 2,000 locations) voluntarily stopped performing elective declawing in January 2020, and the American Animal Hospital Association updated its 2025 accreditation standards to prohibit non-therapeutic declawing at accredited practices. Internationally, at least 42 countries have already banned the procedure, including the UK (2006) and most of Europe under the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals.
Where the story gets it wrong
Many assume declawing is banned everywhere in the United States. There is no federal law: six states ban it — New York, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California — along with the District of Columbia, which is a federal district and not a state. Counts of "seven" come from adding D.C. to the six states. Declawing remains legal at the state level in the other 44 states.
A second misconception is that these bans punish cat owners. In reality, every law targets the person performing the procedure — in practice the veterinarian — not the owner who requests it.
Virginia's ban is often assumed to be identical to the others, but its exception is broader: declawing is still permitted there when the cat's owner has a physician-documented condition that could worsen if scratched, whereas the New York, Rhode Island and California texts define the therapeutic exception by the cat's own medical condition.
- Current status
- Actively Enforced
- Enacted
- July 22, 2019
- Penalty
- Penalties fall on the practitioner, not the owner, and vary by state. New York imposes "a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars." Maryland treats a violation as a civil offense with a fine of up to $1,000 plus discipline by the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. Massachusetts escalates $1,000 / $1,500 / $2,500 for first, second and third offenses. Rhode Island routes violations through veterinary licensing discipline under R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 5-25-9 and 5-25-15. California exposes a veterinarian to license denial, suspension or revocation, and Virginia enforces civil penalties through its veterinary board.Fine: up to USD2,500
- Jurisdiction
- Six U.S. states ban non-therapeutic declawing: New York (Agric. & Mkts. Law § 381, 2019), Maryland (HB 22, ch. 178, signed April 21, 2022, effective October 1, 2022), Virginia (HB 1354, Va. Code § 54.1-3814, effective July 1, 2024), Massachusetts (ch. 345 of the Acts of 2024, approved January 8, 2025), Rhode Island (S 0180A, R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-1-44, effective September 1, 2025) and California (AB 867, ch. 479 of 2025, Bus. & Prof. Code § 4826.8, effective January 1, 2026). The District of Columbia — a federal district, not a state — enacted its own ban in 2023, which is why some sources describe seven banning jurisdictions. Washington State's HB 1904 was still in committee as of January 2026 and has not been enacted. Municipal bans also exist in cities including Denver CO, Austin TX, Pittsburgh PA, St. Louis MO, Madison WI and eight California cities. There is no federal law.