I always thought neutering (ie castration) was bad enough, besides hypocritical; the 'pedigree' elite cats tend to keep their balls while the tabby moggy loses his. Then theres the concept of the 'indoor' cat, confined to the house and unable to chase mice, fight other cats and generally unable to enjoy life at all.
But declawing seems to go beyond all this. I thought it meant clipping the claws a bit from time to time, but it seems that it entails surgically removing the claws, leaving the cat unable to defend or assert itself in any way whatsoever, not even to scratch away fleas... This is monstrous, and ive linked an information site for those, like me, who cant believe this is permitted.