Pet 'enhancments'

[Tygamoon]

While being lazy and reading stuffs I found this http://allfunny-stuff.com/index.php/Coo ... China.html. Being that we all here are such huge pet people I wanted to get the communities take on these sorts of things. Other then changing pet hair color is there other things that are done to pets that that may be considered inhumane? Leave some feedback and opinions to help me continue wasting my time

[Saturo]

I can't see how dying a pets hair would be inhumane, not very kind, sure, but not inhumane. Some things, like declawing cats, however...

[Aleu]

I don't think it's inhumane, if the dye doesn't harm their skin. I don't really think the pet cares that much about how their look. =P (You sure those weren't photo shopped?)

[Vephriel]

I don't consider that inhumane as long as the animals weren't forced into bad conditions or treatment while getting these aesthetic changes. It looks to be all just in good fun, and I don't have a problem with it.

Physically altering an animal though in a way that affects their regular behaviour or lifestyle I do not care for. Declawing was mentioned, I'm wholly opposed to that. If you can't handle a cat scratching your furniture then don't get one. The cat has no choice, if you bring one home then have its claws ripped out by the root only to heal poorly or not at all...ugh, it disgusts me. Same with having surgery to a dog's vocal chords so it can't bark and 'annoy' you. I don't even like docking and ear cropping...it's unnecessary and potentially painful to the dog if not done properly.

[tramani]

i think its kinda lame to dye a pets hair , they dont ask for it , maybe not even like it , it could smell bad or hurt their eyes , a speck of inconsiderence mixed with a sliver of inhumanity , but not cruel unless u spray the paint in its eyes
dying a white cat black shouldnt be a problem , but painting a dog green? thats a bit over the line

[Tahlian]

I saw a groomer dyeing a pair of poodles on a TV documentary once. If I recall correctly, she used food coloring to dye one poodle pink and one purple. The food coloring washed out with a couple-three baths and was completely harmless to the dogs...unless, of course, they happened to be embarrassed at being pink or purple, I suppose. That sort of thing doesn't really do any harm, so long as the dog is okay with being at the groomer's in the first place. Some dogs tend to freak out in that environment, so I wouldn't suggest it for them.

As for ear cropping and tail docking - isn't that outlawed in Great Britain these days? Perhaps it should be illegal in the US...but until we as a society learn to value our animals more, that sort of thing isn't terribly likely to happen. If I had my choice when buying a puppy, I probably would tell the breeder not to dock or crop my puppy...but if I'm not given that option, I'm probably not going to raise hell about it, as the majority of ethical breeders make sure the process is as low-trauma for the pups as it can be.

[Saturo]

As for ear cropping and tail docking - isn't that outlawed in Great Britain these days?

Every civilized country I know of has outlawed it.

[Vephriel]

If I had my choice when buying a puppy, I probably would tell the breeder not to dock or crop my puppy...but if I'm not given that option, I'm probably not going to raise hell about it, as the majority of ethical breeders make sure the process is as low-trauma for the pups as it can be.

*nods* I agree with this exactly. I would never choose to have a dog cropped or docked, however if they already came like that I wouldn't throw a fit over it. I just don't care for it in general. It can be done safely of course, but I don't like the concept.

[Redith]

I am way aganst vocal cord cutting, I dont like ear cropping..but tail docking depending on the breed for medical reasons I aprove. My bud had a boxer that was so nuts he would litterally wag his tail til it broke. That happened 2ice so the choice was, dock his tail or give the dog, "Dog Prozac" so he wouldnt do much and wouldnt have same personality. Well he got it docked and the dog is the same happy doofus wagging his butt arround and I think it was the right choice

[Vephriel]

That's a perfectly valid reason Redith, and I wouldn't be against something like that either.

[Tygamoon]

Photoshoped or not I thought these picks illustrate what I had in mind. I've see a pick of a poodle with its hair all gussied up with peacock colors and eye spots on its thighs. When I was very young and didn't know any better I was quite taken with the idea of putting jewelry on my future pet cats. Thankfully I've grown from that idea and know that it would be disastrous to do that to any sort of animal.

Now as to that Chow Chow that looks like a panda...OMGCUTE. That is absolutely my favorite breed and I adore pandas. I can see the positive benefits of altering pet hair color to promote conservation for the endangered animals. Seeing someone walk down the street with a dog that looks like a tiger could potentially inspire others to get involved with environmental conservation.

I've always felt kind of removed from the whole movement to save habitats and the animals in them. They are in completely different countries (many with laws that make travel hard for the average person) not to mention it being detrimental for tourists tramping around leaving trash and whatnot in these areas.

[Mania]

Ah, I thought this might be about the seminal volume, Why Paint Cats: The Ethics of Feline Aesthetics.

[Teigan]

.

[Saturo]

I wouldn't call the US civilized, they have death penalty.
Really? They perform surgery on healthy animals!?

[Teigan]

.

[Tygamoon]

Wow I did not know that about vet school . My sister wants to be a vet. I hope she can find a way to get where she wants to be and not compromise her morals. I recall in school they had us do dissections of frogs. I felt awful pulling that little froggie out of a bucket of preservatives and other froggies. I honestly see no reason what-so-ever to do that lesson. To think they actually used to do vivisection on live animals in a public school. I'm not one to stop eating meat cold turkey *ahem* and I hope some day to run a health farm for my family but some things people do to animals...ugh.

Mania I had read the first book long time ago but didn't know about the second haha. I'll have to go look it up soon.

[Mania]

*nods at Tygamoon* That's actually the reason I changed majors from Biology to Anthropology. I was so excited to take a herpetology class! I mean I've been studying herpetology unofficially since I was 6, but a whole class of people who at least theoretically had the same interest!

I knew there was going to be some dissection, but I figured I could deal ... somehow. (I have this weird thing about reptiles. I used to tell people that I wouldn't have any problem at all killing a cute kitten, but I couldn't hurt any kind of reptile or amphibian on purpose. That was an exaggeration ... but not much of one. And in fact I did divorce my first husband over an unfortunate incident with an anole.) Anyway, I knew I'd have trouble with the dissection but I also knew I could get through it if I had to since it wasn't like we were killing them exactly ... just mutilating their corpses.

But I found out the first day that we would be gathering our own dissection subjects. Two labs a week -- one to gather and kill, one to dissect.

I went to talk to the professor, who was the head of the biology department, about it. I offered to do any sort of work he wanted so long as I didn't have to kill any herps. He called me a tree-hugging liberal and threw me out of his class.

And the next day I switched majors.

[Rawr]

I'm not sure if u think this inhumane but I have a Jack Russel Terrier and I had her dewclaws removed.

[Teigan]

.

[Tygamoon]

Also, the specimens are so preserved that they bear little resemblance to the actual organism.

Exactly! I've gutted fish for dinner and helped my grandpa with his trapping. Those preserved animals they have students work on offer a very poor substitute to the real thing. The only reason I did the assignment was for credit, (oh how I hated homework) I was very close to failing.

The thing I learned in that far away high school classroom was that if present day society could remove you so far from how something actually is and portray it as how things are then I wanted nothing to do with it.