New York's first-in-the-nation legislative proposal to ban the declawing of cats has sparked a heated debate among veterinarians and cat lovers alike.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A proposal to ban cat declawing in New York is singling out a once-common procedure that veterinarians say is now on the decline amid a wider debate about how we treat our household pets.

For many decades, declawing cats has been a routine veterinary procedure, but this is no simple pedicure. There's anesthesia, pain medication and the amputation of the cat's toes back to the first knuckle.

New York's first-in-the-nation legislative proposal to ban the declawing of cats has sparked a heated debate among veterinarians and cat lovers alike, with some insisting it's inhumane and others saying it should be allowed as a last resort for felines that won't stop scratching furniture, carpets and their owners.

"None of us love the procedure," says Richard Goldstein, a veterinarian at New York City's Animal Medical Center and a former faculty member at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. "But when the alternative is condemning the cat to a shelter or to death? That's why we do it."

The state and national veterinary organizations that say they oppose a ban on declawing do so because it's often the only way for cats with behavioral problems to keep from being abandoned or euthanized, they say. Such medical decisions should be left to the professionals and cat owners, not lawmakers, they add.

It's the reality of the procedure itself that has raised the backs of opponents. Unlike human nails, a cat's claws are attached to bone, so declawing a feline requires a veterinarian to slice through tendon and nerves to remove the last segment of bone in a cat's toes.

"It's amputation. It is the equivalent of taking a cigar cutter and cutting the end joint off," says Jennifer Conrad, a California veterinarian who traveled to Albany this past week to lobby lawmakers for the proposed ban.

Brooklyn elementary school principal Lisa Fernandez says she declawed her own cat before she knew what it entailed. Students at her school are now participating in a lobbying campaign to urge lawmakers to support the ban.

"When I found out what it was, I was horrified," says Fernandez.