Toe Amputation in Cats: How We Got Here and Why It Has to Stop

Let’s stop calling it “declawing.” That word is soft and misleading, like a fancy manicure or just trimming nails. The truth is ugly: it’s toe amputation. The last bone of every toe is cut off. If you’re having trouble picturing that, imagine losing all your fingertips at the last knuckle just so you wouldn’t scratch the couch. That’s what we’re talking about.

And yet here we are, in 2025, with vet clinics in our area still offering it — not because it’s necessary, but because people still ask for it. It’s time we take a hard look at how this practice started, why it stuck around, and what it’s really doing to cats.

How Did This Even Start?

Declawing (toe amputation) isn’t some ancient medical tradition. It only showed up in veterinary journals in the 1950s. A few U.S. vets introduced it as a quick fix for scratching, and by the mid 1950s it spread fast. Why? More cats were living indoors, and people didn’t want their furniture scratched.

Unlike Europe — where they immediately called it inhumane and banned it — the U.S. normalized it. Here, it became a routine add-on, often bundled with spays and neuters. Not because cats needed it. Not because it was good medicine. But because it was convenient and profitable.

Why Did It Become Commonplace?

• Furniture over felines: Owners were told their belongings would be safe.

• Landlords demanded it: Some housing policies still (shockingly) require cats to be declawed to rent an apartment.

• Culture of quick fixes: Instead of learning how to trim nails or provide scratching posts, we amputated toes.

We have to say it out loud: this was never about animal health. It was about people wanting cats without the natural things that make them cats.

The Hidden Truth

Declawing doesn’t make cats easier to live with. In fact, it often makes life harder for both the cat and the owner:

• Cats without claws may bite more.

• Many live with chronic pain and arthritis.

• Litter box avoidance is common, because walking hurts.

So the irony is painful — the very thing declawing was supposed to “fix” ends up creating bigger, messier, more expensive problems.

Why This Matters Now

Other countries banned toe amputation decades ago. The U.K. banned it in the 1980s. Australia, New Zealand, much of Europe followed suit. In the U.S., change has been slower. New York became the first state to ban it in 2019, and more states are joining in.

But in Wisconsin (and many other states), most vets still do it. Why? Because people still ask for it. That’s the truth: this practice survives because the demand survives.

What We Can Do Instead

Scratching isn’t a “bad” behavior. It’s a natural, necessary one. Cats scratch to stretch, mark territory, and maintain healthy nails. The good news? There are plenty of humane solutions:

• Scratching posts and trees — put them in places cats actually want to scratch (by the couch, by the window).

• Cardboard scratchers — cheap and effective.

• Nail trims — most cats tolerate them better than people think.

• Nail caps — soft covers that protect furniture without harming cats.

• Patience and redirection — cats can be trained where to scratch if we give them the right options.

A Cultural Habit, Not a Medical Need

Declawing is not healthcare. It’s a cultural habit America picked up in the mid-1900s and never put down. But like smoking on airplanes or cars without seatbelts, just because something was normalized doesn’t mean it should stay.

We know better now. The question is: will we act like we know better?

*****If you rent, if you work in housing, if you’re a vet, if you’re a cat owner — you have the power to change this. Stop asking for it. Stop requiring it. Stop performing it. Cats deserve better than toe amputation for our convenience.