LCO No. 5707 1 of 2
General Assembly Committee Bill No. 6267
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 5707
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING CAT DECLAWING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) For the purposes of this 1
section: 2
(1) "Cat" means any animal of the taxonomic family Felidae; 3
(2) "Declawing" means conducting an onychectomy or any other 4
surgical procedure to amputate or modify a portion of a cat's paw in 5
order to remove such cat's claws; 6
(3) "Tendonectomy" means a procedure in which the tendons to a 7
cat's limbs, paws or toes are cut or modified so that the normal 8
functioning of the cat's claws is impaired; and 9
(4) "Therapeutic purpose" means a medically necessary procedure to 10
address an existing or recurring infection, disease, injury or abnormal 11
condition in the claws, nail bed or toe bone of a cat that otherwise 12
jeopardizes the cat's health. "Therapeutic purpose" does not include a 13
procedure performed for a cosmetic or aesthetic purpose or to make the 14
cat more convenient to keep or handle. 15
Committee Bill No. 6267
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(b) No person shall perform surgical claw removal, declawing or a 16
tendonectomy on any cat or otherwise alter any cat's toes, claws or paws 17
to prevent or impair the normal function of such cat's toes, claws or 18
paws. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any procedure 19
performed solely for a therapeutic purpose. 20
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be 21
subject to a civil penalty of five hundred dollars for the first violation, 22
one thousand dollars for a second violation and two thousand five 23
hundred dollars for a third or any subsequent violation. The provisions 24
of this section may be enforced by the Department of Public Health, the 25
Department of Agriculture and any municipality. 26
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section October 1, 2025 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit cat declawing.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. CHAFEE, 33rd Dist.; REP. KLARIDES-DITRIA, 105th Dist.
REP. DELNICKI, 14th Dist.
H.B. 6267