The Paw Project's mission is to educate the public about the painful and crippling effects of feline declawing, to promote animal welfare through the abolition of the practice of declaw surgery, and to rehabilitate cats that have been declawed. Many people, including animal lovers, do not realize that declawing is a surgical procedure in which the animal's toes are amputated at the last joint. A portion of the bone, not just the nail, is removed. Declawing may result in permanent lameness, arthritis, and other long-term complications. The practice, although common in the United States, is illegal in over 40 countries. Great Britain's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons goes so far as to declare declawing "unnecessary mutilation." Declawing does not keep cats in homes, a fact acknowledged by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP). New York and Maryland have banned declawing. A growing number of cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, West Hollywood, Burbank, Santa Monica, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Austin, the city + County of Denver, and 8 of 10 Canadian provinces have enacted declaw bans sponsored by the Paw Project. Statistics from those cities indicate that the relinquishment of cats to shelters in those cities in the years since the bans were enacted has not increased - in fact, the number of cats dumped in shelters has decreased consistently by ~43%. The Paw Project actively campaigns to legally ban declawing at the community and state level. We are currently working on legislation in CA, NJ, RI, and WV. Learn more and join the movement at pawproject.org, facebook.com/pawproject, instagram.com/pawproject or twitter.com/pawproject. Watch the critically-acclaimed (100% on Rotten Tomatoes) documentary on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play and Vudu. Trailer: https://goo.gl/aF26RB We are a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.