I would never have a cat declawed. As others have said, it's painful to the cat and leaves them defenseless should they wander outside. Think how you would feel if someone ripped out your fingernails.
You'd want to make sure kitty's claws are trimmed, and try to coax him/her into using a scratching post designed for the purpose, rather than your dining room table
Here's a thread I started a few weeks ago, when I thought I might be getting a kitty. (It fell through
) There's some discussion of declawing there as well.
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=34502
My husband's grandparents used to have a cat that had had ALL FOUR PAWS declawed
The cat was like that when they got her. Their furniture was never scratched, but the poor cat!!