“I must admit, it wasn’t on my radar,” said Darryl Moore, a city councilman in Berkeley, where a ban passed unanimously on Tuesday. “But, besides being disgusted by the procedure, which is cruel, there is the fact that, given all the problems in California and the state taking money and property taxes from us, it seemed obscene and ridiculous to me that they would tell us how to regulate this.”

Image When a cat is declawed, part or all of the first joint, shown above, on its paw can be severed to prevent regrowth. Credit... Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Culver City, Burbank and other cities are working on similar ordinances. Several counties, including Humboldt, Marin and Sonoma, have also expressed interest in banning the practice, said Dr. Jennifer Conrad, a veterinarian and director of The Paw Project, an organization that opposes the declawing of cats big and small.

Until Oct. 27, West Hollywood was the only city in the country with such a ban, Dr. Conrad said. The California Veterinary Medical Association pushed to prevent local regulation of declawing after taking West Hollywood to court to reverse its ban and losing. In letters to the San Francisco and Santa Monica City Councils, the group’s president, Mark Nunez, said, “The decision to declaw a cat should remain between the owner in consultation with his, or her, veterinarian on a case-by-case basis.”

John Duran, a West Hollywood city councilman, drafted that city’s ban in 2003. Mr. Duran said his remorse over having had his own cat declawed inspired him. Years ago, in an effort to save his couch from an exuberant shredding by his Persian, Alexis Carrington, named after a character on the television show “Dynasty,” Mr. Duran asked his veterinarian to remove her claws.

“But I didn’t realize what I’d done until I saw the pain Alexis went through,” he said. “I thought that declawing was glorified nail clipping,” when in fact, “part or all of a cat’s first paw joints” are severed to prevent regrowth.