Gothic Kittens on Ebay

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Pierced_kittens_removed_from_home_12-17-2008.html

Uhhh...no..no it wasn't at all.

I'm speechless...

how can anybody think this was a good idea?

They had a classified ad here too http://www.petclassifieds.us/111205/pure_black_tailess_pierced_gothic_kitten.html

REALLY NOW?

Sweet, a phone number. Lets all go out to a payphone and make a collect call.

OK, debate time. Cropped ears and docked tails, declawed paws and defanged jaws, neutered nads and spayed abs. When is a pimped out pet's augmentation acceptable and when is it not. Are barbelled dogs and pierced pussies any different?

It's enough to make a pet want to commit suicide.

Agreed wholeheartedly. I would never declaw or dock ears or tails. We were horrified when we discovered that our Leroy Chihuahua had had his ear pierced before being rescued.

My dogs are chipped because the rescues we got them from required it as a condition of rescue (although I highly encourage responsible pet owners to do this -- it's a relatively painless nonmutilating procedure that heals quickly, causes no stress to the animal, and ensures your animal can find you again if you're separated).

Sadly our family Chihuahua, Mr Big (actually, likely a Jack-Russel/Chihuahua mix) also underwent a rather nasty body mod. He lost one of his big bug eyes when my father's old husky/wolf mix snapped at him (turned on his best friend over a dog biscuit). Though it wasn't intentional, his eye looks like it's in a constant wink. It gives him buckets of character since he looks so much more piratey now (and now his appearance almost matches his bark, if you know what I mean).

Here he is before he lost his left eye.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Oh my god... that is so awful

Those poor kittens

I read that with my mouth open the whole time. I'm shocked. But I don't think I should be. People suck.

Because people are idiots . Especially those people .

While it's completely wrong to begin with, an improperly docked talk (or generally missing tail) can cause severe neurological damage to a cat - including incontinence.

Depending on how you look at it, spaying/neutering an animal is medically beneficial. Un-altered cats and dogs run extremely high risks for various cancers, such as ovarian, testicular and mammary cancer.

I'll stay off the "too many animals euthanized daily in shelters" soapbox.

Aw, nuts. You beat me to it.

Well I guess there's no point playing devil's advocate here. I'm against cropping and docking, too.

My question is, who is willing to do that to an animal? Or do the owners do it themselves?

edit: nevermind, read the article, apparently...

How is this a great idea?

Same, though that's immediately what I thought of. I hope anyone who is horrified by this is just as horrified by cropping and docking.

how does all those piercings actually effect the animals? I'm curious, I know it can't be good, but it would be good to know if I actually hear someone come up with this bright idea again so I can tell them how stupid it is.

I'm against cropping and docking for cosmetic purposes. I can't think of any non-cosmetic reason for cropping. And most dogs are fine without docking, though I can think of some situations in which I would accept it.

I'd also the docking of Manx cats with partial and full tails, as they have a tendency toward extremely painful arthritis.

I'm naive when it comes to a lot of things. For example, I only just got into Queen three or four years ago, and I was shocked and really, really bummed when I found out that Freddie Mercury was dead. Apparently I was out of the loop on things, because when I told my friends how bummed I was they laughed at me.

Anyway. When I found out very recently that a lot of pointy-eared dogs, which I love, have pointy ears because they're cropped, I freaked the fuck out. I was angry at the world for days, like I was after I saw Braveheart for the first time. Days.

Awful. Awful.

How awful. The pictures in that article are heartbreaking.

That's pretty horrible.

oh man, some people just don't think at all.

Those pics made me feel sick to my stomach. Seriously, I look at my two babies and can't even imagine (even though one was a rescue and I know endured horrible things) doing ANYTHING like that to them. I simply feel terrible when they get under my feet and I step on them accidentally, let alone inflicting pain like that! Further proof that animal abuse laws need to be a lot stricter. It's not ok to do shit to your kids, but your pets, eh slap on the wrist. Just speechless.

I held my heart when looking at the pictures and reading the article. So fucked up. I hope they go away for a real long time.