I read with great interest Michael Symons’ article on a renewed effort to ban cat declawing in NJ. I wrote about this same attempt 3 and a half years ago and about the only thing that has changed is New York has since become the first and only state to do this. We’re re-publishing my old post, so just keep that one change in mind as you read it.

This half-baked legislation calls for jail time for veterinarians (or any one else) who performs the procedure. Ridiculous. And it was gratifying to see many professionals within veterinary medicine back up my original point that banning declawing will increase euthanasia and homelessness. If you want to know why this bill is so misguided, read on.

A new poll is found at the end of this opinion piece.

New Jersey is positioned to become a laughing stock once again. Not because of someone named Snooki and not because of lane closures at the GWB. This time because we are set to become the only state in the country that makes declawing a cat a criminal act.

An Assembly committee cleared a bill Monday that would place declawing a cat on the list of animal cruelty offenses. This misguided, cloying legislation is the work of Assemblyman Troy Singleton. Simpleton, er, Singleton, believes declawing is a "barbaric practice" that is usually done for convenience and not necessity. Yes, I suppose keeping your furniture and window coverings from being shredded and destroyed is convenient and not necessary. You've got us there, Troy. But ask yourself without what you call a convenience how many thousands of cats would either be returned to a shelter or never adopted to begin with? Then guess what happens to them, Troy? They are euthanized. Killed. So that's your choice. Ignoring this obvious natural outcome, Singleton wants the penalty for declawing a cat to be up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail plus civil penalties.

By passing your bill, many more cats won't be given a home and will end up dead. That's kindness to animals? If you're still unsure, try processing it this way. You have a choice of giving up the tips of your fingers and in exchange will be loved and cared for, played with and pampered to a ripe old age. Or be killed. When those are your two choices, and this will apply to thousands of cats, you would choose the former.

Opponents of declawing say it is painful and unnecessary. Okay, again, giving a cat a home is unnecessary too. As far as pain, the procedure is not as invasive as it once was with modern declawing removing only the claw bed and not bone, plus the pain meds available today are greatly improved from years past. As much as animal rights obsessives don't want to deal with reality, the fact is declawing makes homes available to cats that otherwise wouldn't have any. In 2014, according to NJ Department of Health's Animal Intake and Disposition Survey, 16,739 cats were killed in shelters because no one would adopt them. Do the animal nuts supporting stupid legislation like this want those numbers to go even higher?

How about realize cats are only cats, not people? They don't care to be dressed in Halloween costumes and be thrown birthday parties and given their owners' last names. Yes, owners. You're not a cat mommy or daddy. You're an owner. How about realize that even if not ideal, a declawed cat will get along just fine and stop projecting your own self-esteem issues onto the animal? He won't feel like "half a cat;" he won't suffer emotionally. And even if he does, if he could have the intellectual capacity to realize it was declawing or death, he'd gladly take the declawing.

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