As long as you don't remove the rear claws, they are not entirely defenseless. I've read that cats do the most damage in fights with their back claws. In fact, if you see two cats fighting, the one that is on the bottom is likely the dominant cat and is using that position to win the fight. We tried the scratching posts and all the other tricks, but our cats still just wouldn't stop, so we had them declawed. The laser method actually didn't slow them down much. The same night they were trying to claw their way into the bedroom and didn't seem to care. We had closed the door.
