H-3169.1

SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1904

ByHouse Health Care & Wellness (originally sponsored by Representatives Peterson, Leavitt, Parshley, Fosse, and Macri)

AN ACT Relating to prohibiting the act of declawing cats; adding a new section to chapter 18.92 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 18.92 RCW to read as follows:

(1) It is unlawful for any person engaged in the practice of veterinary medicine to perform a declawing procedure on a cat, unless necessary for a therapeutic purpose.

(2) This section preempts any ordinance regulating the practice of declawing a cat enacted by a county, city, town, or other political subdivision of this state.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Cat" means any domesticated species of the family Felidae and does not include any wild or nonnative species of the family Felidae.

(b)(i) "Declawing procedure" means:

(A) An onychectomy, a dactylectomy, a phalangectomy, or any other procedure that removes a portion of the paw or digit of a cat in order to remove a claw;

(B) A tendonectomy or any other procedure that cuts or modifies the tendon of the limb, paw, or digit of a cat in order to prohibit the normal movement of a claw; or

(C) Any procedure that prevents the normal functioning of one or more claws of a cat.

(ii) "Declawing procedure" does not include nail filing, nail trimming, or the placement of temporary nail caps on one or more claws of a cat.

(c)(i) "Therapeutic purpose" means any action intended to address as a matter of medical necessity an existing or recurring infection, disease, injury, or abnormal condition in the claw, nail bed, or toe bone that jeopardizes the afflicted animal's health.

(ii) "Therapeutic purpose" does not include any action performed for cosmetic or aesthetic reasons or reasons of convenience in the keeping or handling of an animal.

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