Diane, I wish you and your daughter the best of luck. No one should criticize your decision or look down on you for doing what you feel is best for everyone involved. I don't recommend declawing for the average situation, but I'm also not sure it's the monster some make it out to be. I've seen many cats coming out of surgury and none were showing signs of being in unbelievable pain (in fact, I'll never forget one older cat who was playing with toys and batting things around in his cage right after surgury. He must not have been in too much pain!) nor do I know of any cats who developed problems related to the surgury. Two of my cats are declawed: Sassy was done 11+ years ago before we knew what it entailed and Buddy was done by his previous owner. Neither have suffered any ill effects.