*edit: I know I won't make a lot of friends with this post. I am sorry but it is the way I feel*

Declawing is a horrendous act. And I do not say this without being educated. I've done the research and I've seen the poor babies coming out of the surgery (on video). It makes me want to throw up. I've also first hand met hundreds of declawed cats through my shelter work over the years. I can almost always predict a declawed cat from their behavior alone. Sure, your cat can end up with no biting tendencies or aggression problems after the surgery, but consider yourself lucky.

One reason they may stop using the litter box is beacause of the PAIN. Also, since they have no defenses, they could start marking.

A cat's natural instinct to scratch serves BOTH physical and psychological needs. Cats can be trained to satisfy their desire to claw without damaging valuable property. Sprinkle a cat post with catnip. Squirt the cat with a water gun when he/she chooses to try to scratch the furniture. Most importantly, never give the cat an opportunity to be alone with valued furniture while you are still training the cat where to scratch. Sure, that means the cat would have to be confined to a room every time you're out of the house for a month or less. I think that is much better than amputating the toes though.

Here is an exerpt from a declawing site about the effects of declawing:

Pain. While the immediate post-surgical pain that the cats suffer is obviously severe, it is impossible to know how much chronic pain and suffering declawing causes. However, one can consider similar procedures in people. Many human amputees report life-long, painful "phantom" sensations from the amputated part. Declawing is ten to eighteen separate amputations, so it is not unreasonable to believe that declawed cats experience phantom pain in one or more toes. Cats typically conceal pain or illness until it becomes unbearable. With chronic pain, it may be that they simply learn to live with it. Their behavior may appear normal, but a lack of overt signs of pain does not mean they are pain-free.

Declawing can also cause arthritis because they shift the weight backwards onto the center of the paw rather than the toe after the surgery. I would never want my baby to go through this.

Some vets recommend the procedure because it brings money in. Sad but true. My vet refuses to even do it and offers many educational materials on why not and on how to handle a cat with claws. Surgery brings a quick result with no work requred by the "owner". Why get a cat if you're not willing to spend time training? Baffles me. And the training usually does not consist of much effort.

If you are considering declawing, please watch a cat coming out of the surgery. Watch how they can't walk and have to keep picking their paws up really fast as soon as they put them down because of the immense pain

My final thought: If I were to consider mutilating a cat, I would seriously NOT even get a cat in the first place.