My college roommate had a cat and had her declawed. She was fine after the procedure, bounced right back, and never showed signs of residual pain. I didn't realize there was so much controversy over declawing cats until probably a year ago. But then again, I don't own a cat, nor do I want to own one...so I had never really read up on it. I doubt I will ever have to make that decision because I doubt I'll ever have a cat of my own.
I can see the reason for removing dewclaws in certain breeds of dogs. Levi does not have his; my brother's little Whippet mix, Dallas, does. Those darn dewclaws are always in Dally's way. He's had to go to the vet a couple of times after getting the dewclaw snagged on something - and he ends up with a big bandage like in the picture below. I think his dewclaws cause him more pain now than a procedure to remove them as a puppy would.
I'm generally against things done purely for cosmetic purposes (like tail docking and ear cropping), but I can definitely see both sides for removing or not removing dewclaws in dogs. As far as fully declawing dogs...I don't see the point, really. Mine have never done any damage with their nails.
__________________ katy&levi 
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