The Kittens In Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act, stylized as the "KITTEN Act", refers to several proposed pieces of American legislation intended to amend the Animal Welfare Act and prevent harmful or painful procedures during

animal research Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of animals, as model organisms, in experiments that seek answers to scientific and medical questions. This approach can be contrasted ...

. The proposal is specifically intended to curtail funding for certain research programs in the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

office. The Washington Post reported allegations that such research into feline

toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by ''Toxoplasma gondii'', an apicomplexan. Infections with toxoplasmosis are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or month ...

may have involved cannibalism.''USDA is turning lab cats into cannibals by forcing them to eat feline meat, watchdog says''
/ref>

Legislative history

The first proposal, stylized as the KITTEN Act of 2018, was proposed as H.R. 5780, in 2018. Congressman

Jimmy Panetta James Varni Panetta ( ; born October 1, 1969) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Navy intelligence officer from the state of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the U.S. representative for California's 19th congressio ...

introduced the bill. This bill was referred to the House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. The landmark 2018 Agriculture bill did not include this legislation, although it did incorporate some text from the unrelated Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2018, which was passed by the house before dying in committee in the Senate. This among the last acts of Congress in 2018 prior to a stalemate that resulted in the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown. The second proposal, stylized as the KITTEN Act of 2019, was put forward as a bipartisan proposal, led by Congressman Panetta, and co-sponsored by Congressman

Brian Mast Brian Jeffrey Mast (born July 10, 1980) is an American politician and U.S. military veteran who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Florida's 21st congressional district since 2017. The district, numb ...

(R-FL), Congresswoman

Elissa Slotkin Elissa Blair Slotkin ( ; born July 10, 1976) is an American politician serving since 2025 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan. From 2019 to 2025, she served as the Unite ...

(D-MI), and Congressman

Will Hurd William Ballard Hurd (born August 19, 1977) is an American politician and former CIA clandestine officer who served as the U.S. representative for from 2015 to 2021. Following a nine-year stint with the CIA, Hurd ran for Congress in 2010 and ...

(R-TX). The bill was introduced as H.R. 1622 and concurrently read as S.708 in the Senate.

Effect

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019 the USDA announced it was ceasing all research experiments involving cats.

Legislative history

Effect

References

See also