I had never heard about it either before this newsgroup. Declawing is
illegal in Germany and I have never seen a declawed cat over here.
Looking at my cats and how skillfully they use their claws for all
kinds of stuff (defense, eating, climbing etc...) I think it is a very
cruel practice. There is millions of cats over here that have their
claws and there is no problems which in my opinion puts the whole
procedure into doubt.....