Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows they can be moody creatures—accepting a gentle pat one minute, thrashing their claws at you the next. To avoid this, some cat owners take their cats to the vet to have their claws removed, but animal rights advocates deeply oppose this practice. This year, the Legislature will consider HB 1226, which would ban cat declawing. The surgery would become a misdemeanor; there would, however, be an exception to the ban if there was a medical reason for declawing the cat.