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I concur with most of those participating in this thread in that I would not recommend declawing. Not only does it appear to be a rather gruesome operation, but it removes something that is important to the cat.
I have had cats all my life, and I have sustained some furniture damage. Much of that perhaps had to do with the fact that I was single most of my life, and I didn't care a lot whether they ruined the furniture. Well, I did care, but it was pretty far down on my list of concerns.
Since I have been married, I learned that wives are far more likely to be concerned about such things. Unfortunately, my cats had already developed habits that were not easily broken.
Yelling at them or trying to discipline them, in pretty much anything, is as likely to backfire as to have the intended result, because it makes them nervous and nervous cats are more likely to do things you don't want them to do than are cats who are comfortable in their environment.
Really, it was just a matter of persistence, reminding them not to do that whenever we would see claws penetrating a piece of furniture.
"Cutie, don't do that." Then I would remove her paw from the furniture, being careful not to harm her.
The most important thing though, was to have acceptable alternatives. Cats absolutely have to have something to scratch on. So I bought several of the cardboard scratchers, which they like. They don't seem to know what to do with the sisal rope ones. But the best I had, is what someone already mentioned here, and that was a real log that I brought in from outdoors. It had an interesting shape so it didn't look bad in the house, and they just loved scratching that.
Plus, I have one piece of furniture that I have had for more than forty years, and several generations of cats have gouged it, so I have left that one as fair game. Every new cat I get seems to want to leave his or her contributions.
Back to declawing though, another consideration against it is that if your cat should ever get outside, whether it slips out when you are unaware, or however it happens, without her claws, she will be defenseless against predators, dogs, or other cats.
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