Outlawing Declawing Could Be Catastrophic

Regarding the movement to outlaw the declawing of cats (April 21): This strikes me as another example of an issue where the state has no business interfering. How we pet owners protect our furniture is simply not the legitimate province of government. My 10-year-old calico cat Lilith had her front claws removed when a kitten, shortly after I purchased a suite of living room furniture. Within a few days she had recovered from the surgery and has never “suffered” as a result of the operation.

She doesn’t know that she was declawed and sharpens her nonexistent claws on the furniture, but without doing damage. She also climbs trees, walls and fences. If a law barring declawing had been in effect 10 years ago, I would have had to take the kitten to the pound where, most likely, she would have been put to death. Is that what animal rights advocates would want?

Richard Goodman

Camarillo