Veterinary medicine: cat declawing.

Assembly Member Lee's legislation restricts feline declawing procedures in California to medically necessary cases, establishing new parameters for when veterinarians may perform onychectomies, tendonectomies, or other claw removal surgeries. The bill defines permissible "therapeutic purposes" as procedures addressing existing infections, diseases, injuries, or abnormal conditions that jeopardize a cat's health, explicitly excluding cosmetic or convenience-based declawing.

The measure empowers the California Veterinary Medical Board to deny, suspend, or revoke licenses and assess fines against practitioners who perform these procedures for non-therapeutic reasons. While animal owners retain broad rights to provide veterinary care for their own pets, the bill specifically excludes declawing procedures from this exemption. Local ordinances limiting feline declawing that were enacted before January 1, 2026, remain valid under the legislation.

The bill adds reporting requirements for unregistered animal shelters, mandating that they document adverse events resulting from veterinary care to the board. These provisions create new enforcement mechanisms while preserving existing local regulations, establishing a framework to regulate these surgical procedures through both state oversight and municipal governance.