The Cruelest Cut: How Cat Declawing Became the Next Battleground for Animal Rights
Over the years Jennifer Conrad has come to see her fight as one against greed and stupidity, a nasty pocket of the stuff festering deep in the heart of her own profession. When her crusade began, though, Conrad wasn't thinking that way. She was focused on one patient, Drifter, a three-year-old, 550-pound tiger who was in agony and pissed off about it.
Growing up in a family of physicians in Malibu, Conrad was always passionate about animal welfare. She'd gone to veterinary school with the idea of helping endangered species and had traveled to six continents, working with exotic animals and often trading her services for room and board. Around Hollywood, where she was known as "the Vet to the Real Stars," her patients included many famous film performers, including the tiger featured in The Hangover.
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Most pet-friendly nations already outlaw onychectomy. The United Kingdom's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons deems the procedure "not acceptable" under most circumstances, and laws in most European countries explicitly prohibit it. In Israel, declawing a cat can result in a fine of 75,000 shekels — more than $20,000. Authorities in Brazil, Japan, Turkey and Australia also frown on the practice.
Yet in the United States, declawing is still a common — and lucrative — part of the veterinary business. A surgery that's now considered too barbaric for wild animals is widely marketed through coupons and special spay-neuter "package deals" to cat lovers of all stripes. Studies indicate that 22 million cats, about one-fourth of the country's total domesticated feline population, have been declawed. On average, vets charge between $400 and $800 for the surgery, which takes less than ten minutes per paw and can be done with a scalpel, laser or guillotine-type trimmer.
http://www.houstonpress.com/2013-09-12/news/crulest-cut/
= new reply since forum marked as read
I've seen the worst of it, believe me.
It was the case of former neighbors that were too damn lazy to attempt to train their cats to claw other things than furniture, and it was crappy furniture at that, far less valuable than those claws are for the cat.
As for my old sofa that has been clawed for probably 20+ years by probably 20+ cats over said time that I still have in my living room, well I am still sitting on it with a slipcover on it and have no plans to replace it any time soon as I don't care what my sofa looks like. It is comfortable and you cannot tell it has been clawed from here to hell and back and frankly, I do not care.
That said, cats can be trained to claw other things, I know this and have had success doing it. I'd rather have a happy cat that once clawed a sofa that has been trained to claw cardboard ramps you can purchase for about $10.00 each. I have a supply of about 1/2 dozen of them in storage for her and I flip them over and catnip them good for her and she tends to only claw these now and I always praise her when I see her clawing the cardboard ramp. She gets it.
Said cats owned by these idiot neighbors I mention above used to let these two cats they had go outside (in the woods mind you) after being told not to do this by the vet that de-clawed them. Shame on all of them, especially the veterinarian that is doing this and charges plenty for it too!
Those poor cats frequently got beat up by other animals living in the immediate area, like raccoons, skunks, other cats, etc. I'm sure the constant vet bill alone was a hell of a lot more than the cost of an ugly old sofa from the Salvation Army!
The saddest thing I ever seen is when those two cats were outside one day observing my Maine Coon, the beast of the block, outside digging frantically to oust a gopher in a field that you could observe from the back window of where I was living at that time.
He was surrounded by a ring of cats, all admirably watching him trying to dig that gopher out of that hole in the ground. Among the observers were the two cats with no claws from next door.
After my Maine Coon was done with his unsuccessful attempt to oust the gopher, he left, leaving behind those two cats with no claws. One of them was an elderly male cat and he began to dig at the spot where my Maine Coon had been digging.
He dug and dug and dug frantically until his paws bled open and he barely manged to limp home. 
It is indeed the cruelest thing that can be done to a cat and I think it should be banned and carry a huge fine for cruelty to animals. As for the "value" of someone's furniture being more than that of the cat, well, I don't think that people that value a sofa more than a cat deserve the privilege of having a cat anywhere near them.
That said, I do think that it is good that you like de-clawed cats and like owning them, and yes, you are right, they are often not adoptable after this procedure is done as it can twist the mind of the cat in negative ways, not that I blame the cat one bit.
In the case of the neighbors I mention, the cats got even with them. They enjoyed spraying everything in the house (carpet included) and that is how they got their "revenge" for what was done to them and *phew* did that place ever stink (so horrible you could barely stand to be inside of their household; literally enough to make you want to vomit!). There is no odor worse than cat piss to stink something up good and you can never get rid of that odor, never.
I'm glad to know that you have never had this done to a cat and all I can say is that I hope that selfish people that do this to my best friends in life, cats that is, rot in hell and yep, I mean that. 