Kittyrat is young enough to be trained to use a scratching post. Everytime he goes to scratch a piece of furniture, pick him up, say NO very firmly and carry him over to a scratching post. Take his two front paws and make the scratching motion with them on the post. Say "Scratch, Scratch, Scratch" Believe me, he'll get the idea. That's how I trained my cats. Never had a problem. And I have 8 cats!

BTW, NO type of declawing, be it chopping the first digit of the knuckle off OR laser is easier on a cat.